Move Along Into the Twilight
by cloud9cas
Summary: Chihiro, or rather Hiro to those outside of her family, has been living in America for over three years now it being 7 years since her visit to the Spirit World. She has given up on ever seeing the Kohaku River Spirit again and has tried to live her life accordingly. But, no matter how she tries with those around her, she can't seem to properly lock away those precious memories.
1. Memories

_Chapter One_

_Memories_

Her gaze panned over to the window of her Physics classroom, the last class of the last day of her junior year. The fog had dissipated letting the sun shine through the normal cloud gatherings in the blue sky. She could hear the chatter of her American classmates all around her but she didn't join in with the banter and plans being made for the summer vacation. Down below the window she looked from, students were passing having been released early by the more relaxed teachers. Mr. Smith however sat disapprovingly at the head of the classroom insistent upon keeping the Physics students in for the "full term".

"Back away from the door now, Cai, I mean it!" he lectured as Cai Plowski a graduating senior and only son of the town's mayor leaned against the door jamb, many a girl and his guy friends surrounding him and taking his lead. However, before Mr. Smith could carry out any sense of his own justice the bell rang and the students, lead by Cai, poured out of the classroom into the hallway with hoots and hollers echoing down the enclosed passage.

She stood up and slung her messenger bag over her shoulder before walking toward the door of the classroom to freedom as well. Mr. Smith let go of a heavy sigh before seeing her walking by his desk. "Thank you, Hiro, for keeping to your seat as always," he said rather wearily. She nodded an acknowledgment before proceeding out the door. "Hiro" is how she had insisted the teachers and students of this American school to call to her leaving her name "Chihiro" to her parents use. Mr. Ogino had gotten a promotion again but instead of moving somewhere else within Japan, he had to move his family to the United States of America. Mrs. Ogino had told her daughter time and again that it was a good move and would help her improve her English language studies seeing as it was the only class she more or less failed at completely.

The reason Hiro hadn't wanted to move this time around wasn't because of the dubious task of using English all the time or even leaving her friends behind. No… it was a matter of even greater importance to her. It would be one thing for _him_ to find her in Japan but the United States? How would he find a forwarding address?

She had chided herself a few times after thinking along these lines. What were the chances Yubaba had even let the old river spirit walk away from her bathhouse for the Spirit World? But Hiro had given him his name back: Kohaku River. Kohaku had been called Haku by Yubaba the witch to keep him by her side in the Spirit World to act as her servant who was in charge of taking care of all her dirty work.

But then, Hiro would think, perhaps her twin sister, the witch Zeniba could have helped him escape.

Four years had passed since Hiro and her parents were spirited away after going into the tunnel on the road her father had lost them on before they moved to America. At times Hiro would doubt that it had ever happened but she learned to trust in her dreams after a while which were her last and only link to her memories of Haku and the Spirit World.

However now that she lived in America, Hiro had given up any chance of Haku's promise coming true, "We will meet again." In fact the end of school marked three years since her father had uprooted her and her mother once more for another journey. Hiro put her ruminations to the back of her mind once more. She'd sealed a part of her heart away with her memories of Haku to the furthest part of her mind that usually only her dreams dared to dredge up.

This American life was her life now. School and dodging the dramas of high school were daily occurrences and she only found solace in the summer break. She was ready to go home and celebrate the start of the summer break and also her freedom from Cai Plowski who seemed to have been pursuing her since the moment she set foot in the American school. However now he was graduating and with any luck he would get into a college far, far away from their little town. Her mind danced excitedly only a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips to show her pleasure in the anticipation of next school year.

"Hiro!" a voice shouted and she flinched slightly casting a look over her shoulder. His obnoxious voice was unmistakable but she still had to look wishing and praying it wasn't him. Sure enough, Cai with his spiky brown hair was walking towards her and catching up quickly. Turning her face forward she picked up her own pace seeing the gates of the school just a few feet in front of her. "Hey, hey!" an arm around her shoulders announced the pest had caught her before she could escape school grounds and make a run for it. "Don't pretend like you didn't hear me call you," he said softly, looking down on her 5'3" compared to his 6'.

"Don't flatter yourself," she said her Japanese accent lilting her words slightly. "If I were pretending that would be a form of flirting. I was simply not wasting time in making it obvious I was making my great escape," she clarified, not deigning to look up at him.

"Cut it out, Hiro, we all know you've been waiting for me to graduate so the other girls wouldn't get jealous," Cai said turning her shoulders to fact him. She looked up at him with a mild incredulousness.

"Jealous of what, Cai?" she asked for clarity.

"That you were with the guy that they all wanted. But now you can be my girl and all those others will be leaving this place and finding other guys to like," he said with a bright grin. She blinked a few times before peeling his hands from her shoulders and continuing her brisk walk off of the school grounds. "Hey! Where are you going?" he called after her before jogging to catch up just outside the school gates.

"I'm getting away from this craziness you seem to have. I'm afraid it might be contagious," she said with a quiet sarcasm. Feeling his hand on her shoulder again she whipped around and took a few quicker steps backward and away from him. "I've never liked you, Cai. And I'm not going to start now that, as you put it, the competition has disappeared. You're thickheaded and crazy and vain. I don't care for your type," she said looking at his green eyes before tossing her long braid back over her shoulder. It was secured with a sparkling purple tie. She saw his expression change from jovial to something dark and mean. She turned to leave but he grasped her arm firmly.

"Your little friend Kohaku isn't real, Hiro," Cai spat out icily. Hiro tensed before looking at him as devoid of expression as she could after hearing his ugly voice say that wonderful name.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Cai." Ripping her arm from his grasp she broke into a run wishing for pants as her long skirt wasn't the ideal running outfit but mandated by the school as part of the female uniform.

"You'll be there tonight, at my dinner. My parents invited your family," he called out to her and she shuddered having forgotten about the beautifully and cunningly crafted invitation.

Hiro didn't stop running until she came to the gates of her parents' property. Her fingers clung to the curly iron of the gates as she gasped slightly for air. She wasn't out of shape but the weight of the skirt wasn't what she was used to running in and especially not for 2 miles. She wiped her sweating forehead with her free hand to see her hand was shaking slightly from the strain.

She leaned her forehead against the metal not really focusing on what lie beyond. Haku was front and center in her thoughts. She had forgotten how for a full year after her family's move to America she talked openly of her time in the Spirit World and of Haku to any kid in the class who would listen to her. The teachers of course pegged it down to a nasty bout of lying and a love for telling Japanese fairy tales on Hiro's part but the kids still ate it all up, squealing in horror and delight at all the detail she was able to give them of the creatures she encountered.

All the girls had hit the age where boys with cooties were becoming less and that any boy willing to treat them like best friends were what they hoped for. Kohaku the River Spirit was the perfect friend and was even cute or so they imagined. When Cai had first heard of Kohaku he simply laughed at the fairy tales the cute new girl had invented to stand in for the place he felt most entitled to. Soon, though, he openly mocked Hiro for her dream of meeting up with Haku once more. Others teased her about believing her own fairy tales and thus after that first year she realized how silly it was to cling to the hope that Haku would find her after escaping Yubaba—especially now that her family didn't even live in the same country anymore.

She shut Haku and her heart away and had been trying to forget ever since but Cai was forever tied to it and thus his presence kept the seal from setting and Haku would appear in her dreams.

Letting out a sigh, Hiro hiked her bag strap back up her shoulder and opened the gate onto her family's property. It seemed ridiculous to have so much space for just the three of them but she loved the fact that her father had gone through the pains of having a construction crew build their home like the older era Japanese housing even down to the sliding doors and wood floors.

A slight breeze pushed past her toward the front door, loose hairs floating up and about her face that had long since lost the baby fat and become slightly more angled framing a pair of bright eyes brown though they were. Her hair had been growing since her travels in the Spirit World and she still wore the tie in her hair that had been weaved by Zeniba and her friends Boh, the Bird, and No-Face. She wasn't sure the power it had possessed in the Spirit World translated to the Human World but she felt it didn't hurt anything.

Sliding open the front door she slipped her shoes off and entered. "I'm home!" she said loud enough to be heard through the house. Hiro saw that her parents' shoes were at the threshold along with another pair. It was then that she heard the voices of her parents in the room just beyond the opening hallway.

She walked slowly and suspiciously to the edge of the entry and peered in to the family room to see the three people. Breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn't Cai she took another step into the room to examine her family's guest. His hair was long, past his shoulders but not quite to his lower back like hers, and dark as water at midnight. He looked to be strong but leanly built with squared shoulders but his back was to Hiro so she couldn't examine his face without calling express attention to herself. Her mother looked up and smiled brightly doing just that.

"There she is now. Welcome home, Chihiro," her mother said warmly. She flinched mentally hearing her full name but didn't have much time to dwell on it for the stranger was looking over his shoulder at her. His eyes were startling for they were set in a Japanese face but were the color of the sea. They reminded her of a similar pair of eyes that had so enchanted her back when she was only ten years old. His gaze was first curious but warmed considerably as his lips tilted into a crooked smile. Her breath caught and she could walk no further. The stranger stood up and reached a hand out to her in a very American way.

"Hello Chihiro-san. My name is Kawa Mamoru," he said gently. She managed to get her hand across to his in a rather jerky fashion but he caught it as though it were a startled bird and held it in both hands. "I have been waiting a long time to meet you, it would seem," he said equally gentle and warm. She felt vaguely disappointed when he gave her his name but couldn't stop the fluttering under her ribcage as he spoke to her. Something within started to sing.

The voice of Hiro's father broke her out of the trance and she couldn't stop a blush from burning across her cheeks. "We only just told you about our little Chihiro, Mamoru-kun so we haven't been keeping her from your acquaintance on purpose," her father said laughingly. Hiro glanced at her father shocked by his informal tones toward Mamoru. Hadn't her parents just met him as well? And furthermore what brought him to their home?

Her mother must have seen the questions in her expression for soon she was filled in with the information that her parents had been planning to take Mamoru into their home, or rather the guest house out back, for a few months now and had simply waited for Mamoru to make the appropriate arrangements to settle there. "He'll be teaching ceramics this coming fall at your high school," her mother continued. Hiro's spirits sank a little more. An attractive young man was to be living in her back yard but he was also her teacher… not technically because she had no desire to take ceramics while paint and pencil still called to her heart but their relationship would have to be strictly business.

"Speaking of school, Chihiro I thought you had Physics last today. Why are you all sweaty? Is it really so hot outside?" her mother asked with concern. Hiro's cheeks burned again remembering the state of her face and potentially her clothes.

"Um… I was excited for school to be out so I ran home," she said vaguely wanting suddenly to be anywhere but under the perceptive gaze of Mamoru or rather Kawa-sensei.

"Well go take a shower then. Remember, we have that graduation dinner to go to at the Plowski's home this evening so don't get into your pajamas just yet," her mother reminded her. Hiro couldn't stop the groan from escaping her lips and, by the looks on her parents' faces, it startled them as much as it startled her but Mamor… Kawa-sensei looked amused. Before her mother could scold her, she turned about and scuttled as quickly out of the room and down the hall to her own room as humanly possible.

She sighed softly before looking at her bed and seeing her mother had already laid out an outfit for the dinner party. She shivered in disgust seeing the cocktail dress of white and pink. She looked longingly at her dresser that contained all of her jeans and tee shirts before hopping in the shower.

Wrapped in a bathrobe she took the blow dryer to her hair brushing through it to keep down the frizz as much as possible. She hummed a little tune until a knock on her door reached her ears through the loud and harsh sound of the dryer. Turning it off she called to who ever was outside and her mother soon entered the room a foreign hair product in hand along with a few hair sticks. Hiro pressed her lips firmly together as her mother drew closer.

"Don't give me that look, Chihiro. This is a nice dinner that we are going to and I will not allow you to go with a plain braid and that homely looking purple tie you always use," Mrs. Ogino said firmly. Among the hair accessories, Hiro saw a plain black hair tie and shook her head firmly.

"No, Mom. I will be using my purple hair tie, thank you very much," she said stubbornly. She didn't know why she insisted on wearing it every day but it was as much a part of her as the nose on her face and it made her feel more secure than leaving it behind.

"Chihiro, you will do as I say," Mrs. Ogino said her irritation showing on her round face, "Or I will take that purple thing away and toss it." Hiro held the tie firmly in her hand feeling her nails cut crescents into her palm. She didn't speak but sat sullenly on the little chair before the vanity and let her mother set to work on her hair.

Quick fingers put her hair up into a bun looking thing almost on top of her head with a few renegade pieces finding their way out of the restrictions around her neck and ears but her forehead was completely uncovered and she glowered at her reflection. Her expression turned even darker when her mother placed a pink flower at the right side of the bun to match the torture device of a dress she would be expected to put on.

"Don't forget to wear the white heels I bought for you the other day," her mother said more cheerfully now that she'd gotten her way as far as Hiro's hair went.

"But Mom, I can't walk in heels!" Hiro exclaimed.

"Well, you'd better learn fast because that's what you're wearing. I threw out your white flats the other day and none of your other shoes goes with the dress." Hiro stood up straighter at her mother's admission and waited for her to leave the room before scurrying over to her closet. She found not only her flats were gone but so were all her casual kicks. There were four different high heels that she had never laid eyes on before (one being a pair of white stiletto-ish things) her gym shoes and her uniform shoes. She rocked back on her heels rubbing her forehead and eyes with her right hand.

"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered before her head jerked back to its rightful place and she rushed over to her drawers. Her jeans were gone along with her graphic tees. "What the heck is going on?" she exclaimed. A knock on her door and her father's voice told her to hurry and get dressed or they would be late. "Wouldn't that be a shame," she mumbled darkly vowing to confront her parents about her sudden wardrobe change later.

She glared down at the pink sash that she tied about her waist in distaste before shrugging into the pink cashmere camisole. She snatched up the white heels and wrenched her bedroom door open to shriek in surprise. "Kawa-sensei," she said as he looked down at her with his strange blue-green eyes in mild surprise.

"I'm sorry to have startled you, Chihiro-san. I was just walking by to get to my living quarters through the back door," he said gesturing to the back door a few feet away that led to the guest house.

"It wasn't your fault, I just didn't…" she said trailing off getting a little lost in his gaze. His eyebrows quirked up in anticipation of the rest of her words but she lost them. Instead she was left blushing in embarrassment. "I need to get to the front door so if you'll excuse me," she said skirting around him and toward the front of the house. She glanced back to see him smiling slightly before he turned to continue on his way.

Before she could think much more on the subject of the teacher her mother called impatiently for her to hurry up.

Resting her chin in her hand she watched the city streets pass by as they drew nearer to the Plowski household. She'd been to the Plowski's house multiple times because her father was Mayor Plowski's biggest supporter and financial support. However she'd never had to wear a dress before and it was shorter than she would ever pick for herself and she could only look sullenly at her knees.

She felt the car slow down and looked up to see that they had arrived at the house, or rather mansion. There was a butler awaiting their arrival and he opened the doors for both her mother and herself to step out of the car. She did so, pulling at the skirt hoping vainly that it might stretch just a little more.

"Chihiro, you didn't put makeup on," her mother exclaimed suddenly before attacking her face with lip gloss.

"Ack, mom!" Hiro cried aloud pushing her mother's hand away from her face but not until after Mrs. Ogino had successfully glossed her daughter's lips.

"And don't you dare wipe it off," her mother warned before taking her father's arm to be escorted up the driveway and through the front door the maid stood at awaiting to attend to their needs. She wobbled her way up the drive cursing the heels all the way up. If she had been going to eat at her house, she would be relieved of her shoes at the door but here they were the guests of Americans and expected to dine like them.

The torture of walking up the drive was shorter than she expected but seemed long because of her mother's choice in footwear. Her mother gave the maid at the door her camisole baring her shoulders and when the maid offered to take Hiro's, she just shook her head without a sound but still caught the piercing gaze of her mother. "It's too cold inside," she said quietly trying not to sound rebellious. Her mother let it go with a pursing of her lips when a booming voice called down to them from the stair case that lay in the entryway.

"Ah! Welcome Ogino! I see you have brought your two lovely ladies," Mayor Plowski said beaming under his bushy moustache. Hiro followed her mother's example bowing slightly at the waist but stood up almost immediately afterward hearing another pair of footsteps join the Mayor's. Hiro saw it was Cai and he beamed down at her an almost malicious twinkle in his gaze as he gave her a once over. Storm clouds rolled over her expression as she looked up at him but she tried to clear it when the Mayor addressed her.

"Hiro, I am glad that you could make it. The way Cai described you this afternoon it didn't sound as though you were feeling up to dinner," Mayor Plowski said with sincere concern. She wasn't sure how Cai had portrayed her to his father but it seemed innocent enough of the Mayor's part so she tilted her head slightly forward in acknowledgement ignoring her mother's inquisitive stare.

"Yes, I wasn't feeling quite myself today but I am well now, thank you Mayor Plowski," she said softly. She passed the Mayor's inspection and he prattled on to her parents guiding them to join him in the dining room. Cai waited for her parents to pass him before joining Hiro's side and wrapping an arm about her waist. She froze from the waist up but continued to walk after her parents. He leaned down to her ear to whisper to her. "You may as well get used to this, Hiro," he said, sickly sweet.

She didn't speak it aloud but she made sure her expression spoke loudly enough for him, "Over my dead body."

* * *

_Casidhe here!_

_This is the other fanfic that I have been working on as of late. I watched Spirited Away for the first time about two months ago and completely fell in love with the story. And, as others have also decided, I believe there is definitely more to the story of Chihiro and Kohaku. _

_He did promise they would meet again, after all. _

_So, here is my take of the events.  
_

_Oh, and for future reference, I doubt the chapters will be as long as this but we shall see. I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to my next installment.  
_

_C.B.  
_


	2. Dejavu

Chapter 2: Dejavu

He just smiled at her as he swept her into the dining area that they would be using. It was in a room encased in glass except for the roof being sturdy wood. One could see their expansive and expensive gardens through the windows and Hiro yearned to walk on the lawn in her bare feet. She'd only been wearing the heels for fifteen minutes tops but her feet already ached.

While her mother was distracted by the mayor's bantering she removed the lip gloss by biting her lips, a natural habit of hers turned to good use. They started to sit around a table and Hiro grimaced inwardly when Cai pulled her chair out for her to sit like a "proper lady" as her mother was always telling her. However, she didn't refuse because she did want to sit down just to give her feet a rest.

They were soon joined by Cai's mother who wore a rather eye-catching dress leaving Mrs. Ogino's bare shoulders looking quite modest when compared to a rather deep neck line and hardly any back line at all. She was definitely tanned and not by the sun. She would be very pretty, Hiro mused, if she hadn't spent that last hour in the tanning bed.

A servant surprised her by suddenly placing a napkin in her lap and she jumped a little. It was a lady and she simply smiled down at her clearly understanding Hiro's surprise but not apologizing in the least. She didn't look all that much older than herself and catching the unguarded look she threw at Cai made Hiro pity her. Her face must have showed the pity because the look thrown at her was poisonous to the extreme.

Hiro hoped the new look on her face expressed clearly that the maid could have him before she looked at the plate that had been set before her. She was rather surprised to see fish and rice before her with something that looked like sushi. She took a furtive glance at her parents and saw that they had steak and potatoes along with the Plowskis. The mayor caught her glance and explained in his jovial yet unhurried pace.

"My son says that you speak of your home in Japan often and worried that you might be homesick for a little of the traditional cuisine so I had our cook do some research," he was smiling brightly and she felt she couldn't spurn his kindness no matter what lies Cai had told to incite it.

She tried to give him the polite smile her mother had been drilling into her the last month for just this moment. It seemed to pass off alright and she ate her fish seemingly unbothered by the fact that her meal was different than the rest. Though, secretly, the steak smelled divine and the watering of her mouth was for the potatoes, not the rice.

The conversation was polite and kept to topics such as the weather and such that Mr. Plowski's next choice of topic completely blindsided Hiro and her polite mask was snatched away in an instant.

"Cai of course will be spending the next full year here instead of attending college in the fall. We have discussed it and feel that he should do some work study and earn more money before he takes off for the big world," Mayor Plowski said jovially and his manner finally scraped across Hiro's nerves.

"But I thought he was accepted into a California State University?" Hiro blurted earning a glare from Mrs. Ogino.

"Well, that's the other thing," Cai chimed in. "I realized that I neglected to ask what college you preferred and so will wait patiently until you choose one so we can go together."

His charm, turned on especially for her parents she knew (and they also ate it up greedily), made her want to throw up. She was sure her expression read exactly what she felt when he continued. "See, Father, she's so overwhelmed that she doesn't know how to express her excitement. I told you not to spring this on her," Cai said in an understanding tone, "Why don't we get some air, Hiro?" he continued, standing and pulling the chair out for her and grabbing her arm tightly. She followed his lead simply to get out from under the gaze of all four parents. As soon as they were out of sight she ripped her arm from his grasp and marched out of the house and down the driveway.

"Wait Hiro. I said wait!" he demanded jogging to catch up with her, grasping her arm again but she whipped around like a wild animal, slapping him soundly across the face. Her nails caught him just before the corner of his mouth drawing blood.

"Don't you _dare_ touch me again," she hissed. He touched his hand to his cheek and pulling it away saw the blood on his fingertips before he smirked dangerously.

"So, is this the side you hid at school?" he asked chillingly.

"I could ask the same about you!" she threw back taking a step back and stepping out of her heels. She picked them up, ready to run.

"I'm sure my parents are talking over our pending marriage with your parents as we argue out here," he said, smiling and taking another step closer. "I will finally have full and sole access to you, Hiro." His smirk grew louder and she shivered before going with impulse and chucking the heels at him. The move startled him and he tried to catch them as she turned tail and ran. Her bare feet smacked hard against the pavement stinging her toes but she pushed on hearing him trying to keep up behind her. He may have been part of the football team and the track team but she was still lighter and swifter than he ever managed to be. Subconsciously she was thinking of the purple hair tie and that led her to thoughts of Kohaku.

She heard Cai screaming at her to come back but his voice continued to get fainter until it disappeared completely. She didn't stop however. She didn't trust that he had given up completely and she meant to get home before he could get back to the mayor's residence and get into his car and come after her. Every time a car came up on her she would look in worry but each time it was neither Cai nor her parents.

Gasping and panting she ran into her gate feeling a sense of dejavu after having done the same act just that afternoon. Her fingers curled into the wrought iron curls as she bent over double her free hand on her chest as she struggled for the right rhythm of breathing.

"Chihiro-san?" said a gentle voice full of concern. Her head snapped up and she saw Kawa-sensei standing just on the other side of the gate. Her cheeks already flushed from running grew hotter as she imagined what her appearance must look like. She forced herself to stand up straight and bow.

"K-kawa-sensei," she stammered not being able to bring herself to look at his face again.

The sound of the gate opening startled her but she walked through so it could shut behind her once more. It did shut and she felt an arm at her waist guiding her into the main house. She glanced to her side to see the teacher at her side. His eyes still startled her with their unusual color and, with his arm around her, she again felt a keen sense of familiarity with him. She found herself in front of her bedroom sooner than she liked because it made him take a step away from her.

"I think you should clean yourself up and go to bed, Chihiro-san," he said firmly looking into her face. She realized she had been staring and looked away. He hadn't asked why she was back already and her parents were not and she didn't ask why he had been at the gate as if waiting for her arrival. But she nodded and slipped into her bedroom to take a shower as he had suggested, her mind whirling.

* * *

_Casidhe here! I know, I know. It has been a long time since my last chapter and this chapter is ridiculously short but better to get something out than nothing at all, right?_

_I started school here just about 2 weeks ago now and life has been crazy. I don't think it will be so long in between chapters again. I apologize.  
_

_But my goodness, look what I have here! 3 reviews, 3 followers, and 3 favorites already! It makes me feel much loved. :D And here they are:  
_

_Reviews: Genie2130, misspandalily, and WhiteTiger246!  
_

_Followers: astrallumiere, litugreen, and misspandalily!  
_

_Favorites: CocoIsLoco, Genie2130, and misspandalily!  
_

_Thank you all for your very fine support. 3  
_

_C.B.  
_


	3. Pancakes and Mamoru

_Chapter 3:Pancakes and Mamoru_

Hiro took her time in the shower and was surprised to find her parents were not home when she got out. Or at the very least they weren't beating down her door for an explanation as to why she was home and not getting ready to dance the night away with Cai. She slipped into a set of pajamas clearly chosen by her mother to go with her new wardrobe but she didn't mind them so much, for they were comfy and covered where they should. Running her fingers through her hair after brushing it out, she smiled at getting rid of the things her mother had forced upon her. Her purple hair tie glimmered magically on her wrist as she quickly worked her long hair into a damp braid and secured it properly.

She nodded her satisfaction at her reflection and walked from her room to the kitchen to peruse the freezer. Sure enough, hidden in the back, was her favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream that her father always snuck in for her. It was the one habit that aggravated her mother to no end but that Mrs. Ogino let slide. Hiro wasn't sure how much longer if at all after the evening's antics her mother would continue to turn a blind eye, so she fished it out, container and all, and picking up a spoon, slipped her slippers onto her feet and walked out onto the veranda.

It was still quite warm out though the clouds were slowly moving in for what Hiro supposed would be quite the summer storm. She looked forward to it but, sitting on a lawn chair, began to delight in the ice cream letting all that had happened that day float to the back of her mind. That is, everything but her brief encounters with Kawa-sensei. Taking only the top layer of ice cream on her spoon to let it melt in her mouth, she contemplated everything she had noticed about the ceramics teacher.

She could not deny that he was handsome. She was sure many girls would be envious of anyone who happened to sign up for the ceramics class believing they would be taught by Ms. Hawk but have the more than pleasant surprise of a handsome and young male teacher.

He always seemed to be amused about one thing or another, she thought, excepting the meeting they had just had at the front gate. He seemed concerned but also as though he knew more about the situation than he should seeing as he had been home and not at the Plowski residence. But his sea green eyes always danced with a life that seemed familiar to her in a foggy distant way. The warmth reminded her of the Kohaku River spirit.

She could picture them side by side but she couldn't be sure what Haku would look like all grown up, or if, in fact, he would have seemed older in appearance at all. Hiro was suddenly uneasy. What if Haku would always be the seemingly 12 year old boy? She blushed realizing how odd it would be to see them with any romantic feelings toward one another and she felt very foolish for just assuming Haku would grow up like she had.

"Is something on your mind, Chihiro-san?"

She startled out of her thoughts and looked up to see Kawa-sensei standing in the grass just off the veranda looking at her with his keen, green eyes.

"No!" she exclaimed, blushing more violently before looking down at her ice cream. "I mean, yes… and no. It isn't anything important," she continued looking at him apologetically. He smiled warmly at her before gesturing to the seat across from her.

"May I join you?" he asked. She nodded, continuing to look at her ice cream which had melted a bit during her ruminations of Haku and the man who sat across from her.

"I bet you are wondering why I am home before my parents," she said suddenly casting a furtive glance at him. He paused for a moment before nodding his head slowly.

"However, if you would rather keep it to yourself, I will not ask you too deeply about it," he said giving another disarming smile. She nodded self-consciously before taking a rather large bite of her ice cream to give her time to think about whether she would like to tell him or not. Looking at him she saw he had turned his attention to the sky, watching the clouds roll in. She looked at him piercingly, trying to place his face.

"Have we met before?" she asked suddenly.

He looked at her, his eyebrows raised, that same faint look of amusement. At her look of abject disappointment, his gaze softened as if he wanted to answer her but was not allowed. He looked back up at the sky as she ate some more of her ice cream.

"I ran from Cai… all the way home. That was the second time today," she said quietly after some time had passed. He hummed showing that he was listening. "He has been rather… persistent ever since my parents moved us here but I did not realize how far the persistence went or how much it bordered crazy until today. It… scares me," she said softly, finally voicing how she felt around Cai. "I feel threatened, scared, and uneasy… any moment he'll finally pounce and I will not be able to do anything.

"Though, I suppose I am crazy too, to a point. All this time I was waiting for a certain person to come save me. But I think I've finally realized that he will never come for me…" Hiro had set her empty ice cream container down by this point and wrapped her arms around her stomach as she let her head rest against the chair, looking up at the clouds. He watched her silently, the amusement completely gone.

"I wouldn't give up on him just yet, Chihiro," he said just above a whisper that the wind caught and blew away from his lips toward his own ears but not hers.

She did, however, hear the car door slam shut (the other, presumably her father's more quietly than the former) and she felt the color drain from her face though her expression did not change. "Well… thank you, Kawa-sensei, for listening to my final words," she said sardonically as she stood up, picking the empty ice cream container as she did so. He nodded gravely but the amusement in his eyes gave him away.

"Chihiro!" Mrs. Ogino called and Hiro walked as if to her death.

After the long end of two hours of scolding and fruitless questions, Hiro was sent to her room with the knowledge that she would be grounded and "under house arrest" until further notice. She had made sure to wear her best martyr face before escaping into the solitude of her bedroom. She usually didn't go out much during the summer break anyway and looked forward to reading her books in the garden or in the comfort of her room.

In the end, her parents were really doing her a favor because the more she avoided public the less likely she was to run into the mayor, his wife, or (most importantly) their son. She slipped into her bed and dreamed of her time working for Yubaba again, but instead of Haku and herself being children, she was her current age and Haku was replaced with Kawa-sensei.

She woke up to the sound of rain. Looking at her clock, she took note that it was 8 AM. Stretching luxuriously in the folds of her blankets and comforter, she snuggled back in after opening the window, allowing the rainy breeze to blow into her room. She remembered the day the water spirit came to Yubaba's bath house and wondered if just such a spirit would visit the old witch today as well. She pondered on whom she would foist the responsibility to clean such a guest and Hiro giggled to herself.

She finally rolled out of bed after thirty or so minutes and walked out of her room to discover the suspicious smell of pancakes and bacon. Her parents never made pancakes.

Peeking into the kitchen she pulled back behind the wall again and made for her room as quick as lightning, her mind racing with explanations of being ill. Luck was against her because her mother spotted her retreating back before she made it to the safety of her room.

"Chihiro! Come see who is making us breakfast this morning!" her mother said cheerily, all traces of last night's venom gone. She groaned inwardly before turning to the kitchen and her doom and tried to look polite.

"I never knew 'Hiro' was just short for your real name," Cai said equally cheery. Hiro was wary. He hated rainy weather more than a domesticated cat. She also grimaced mentally, rather belatedly, that now he knew he real name—"Hey, Chihiro-chan, why don't you come and help me flip the pancakes?" She felt as though her body would never unfreeze again when he said her name. She felt nudged from behind and looked to see her father telling her with his eyes to "get over there".

She did as she was told hoping her expression translated as she was simply waking up and not ready to be completely cheerful- normal for any person who just woke up. She thought it passed her mother's inspection as she forced herself to stand beside Cai at the griddle. Her mother tittered about going to set the table and left them alone.

"Relax, Chihiro, you act as if I'm going to eat you," he said amused and she cast a glare sidelong at him. "However, maybe just a kiss on the cheek," he said slyly leaning toward her when her father suddenly entered the kitchen.

"Hey, Cai, would it be alright if we invited Mamoru-san? He's our tenant in the guest house currently," Mr. Ogino said. The moment Cai formed a "y" sound, Hiro pounced on the opportunity.

"I'll go invite him!" she volunteered tearing out of the kitchen to her room for a robe and then to the back sliding door before anyone could stop her or even tell her to slow down for that matter. Her feet slapped on the little stones that led from the back porch to the guest house door. She carefully tied the robe, straightening the silken material out a little before knocking remembering belatedly that she hadn't done her hair. She touched it briefly and felt nothing sticking up when it shouldn't and decided she would have to be happy with that as the door opened.

Her breath caught briefly, his green eyes flashing in their amazingly alive manner. She shook her head to straighten her thoughts and looked up at him again. "Kawa-sensei. We are having pancakes this morning and would like you to join us," she said suddenly shy.

"Of course. But are we all wearing our pajamas or should I change into something a little more put together?" he asked, the amusement appearing again. She blushed realizing that he was indeed in pajamas but they were a rather sophisticated looking pair, all buttoned up the front and pocket to boot.

"Er, um," she stammered looking at a point above his head. "Whatever you're most comfortable in, Kawa-sensei," she rushed before turning and making to dart toward the house.

"Chihiro-san," he said calmly and she stopped abruptly. "It will be a rather… long summer if you continue to insist on calling me 'Kawa-sensei' the whole time. I would invite you to call me by my name," he continued. She turned slowly to look at him. He nodded.

"Mamoru-sama," she said softly, still opting for the more respectful title. He smiled again, not the amused smile, but the sincere one she'd seen briefly the evening before. Her cheeks tinged pink before she turned and dashed back into the house and to her room, closing the door as quietly as she could, slipping down to sit at its base, her hand to her heart. It was thumping like an escapee rabbit but it was warm. She squeezed her eyes shut holding back a squeal of delight when she was startled by a knock on her door.

"Chihiro," her mother's muffled voice sounded dangerous.

"I'm getting dressed, Mom," she said hurriedly standing and rushing to her drawers to find the least embarrassing of the frilly clothes her mother had recently purchased her.

"Hurry, Cai is almost done making all the batter into pancakes," she urged walking away only when Hiro had answered her positively.

* * *

_Casidhe here!_

_Isn't this a better chapter length? I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know!  
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_Reviews: WhiteTiger246, Genie2130, litugreen and Big Sean!  
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_Thanks so much for the reviews! They really encourage me to write more.  
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_C.B.  
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	4. Dishes

_Chapter 4: Dishes  
_

Looking at herself critically in the mirror, Hiro tugged slightly at the silken shirt that had a high collar like a turtle neck but left her shoulders bare. It was a cream color instead of the hideous pink she took note most of her clothes were outfitted in and she wondered at why her parents would take away her jeans as she looked down at the black pants. There were strange knee high stockings but since she didn't need her knee-high socks for school during the summer she put those on instead because of the rain.

She redid her braid so that it was smoother before walking back out into the kitchen. Cai had finished cooking the pancakes and her heart did a small victory dance. It did an amazing leap when, although she discovered she'd sit directly next to Cai, she discovered she would be sitting kitty corner to Kawa-sen… Mamoru-sama. Everything was set out so all she need do was sit. As she was about to sit, Cai slipped into the spot kitty corner to Mamoru-sama, patting the other side for her to sit down. Her heart fell but she tried not to give herself away.

Kneeling down beside him she said thanks for the food and began to eat quietly as her parents asked Mamoru-sama how he slept and other such things. Looking at him furtively, Emilia saw a good-humored expression on his face and she felt content in spite of everything else. Her eyes flickered toward Cai and she saw an amusingly dark expression that he cleared when he saw her watching.

"Mrs. Ogino," Cai said interrupting another question her father had for Mamoru-sama. The teacher didn't seem put off by it however and simply turned to his pancakes and took a few bites.

"Yes, Cai?" her mother prompted.

"I was wondering if I might take Chihiro-san out this afternoon," he said it more than asked which caused Hiro to choke on the water she was drinking and started coughing loudly. When Cai reached over to pat her back she visibly recoiled causing herself to cough more from the abrupt movement. She excused herself from the table amidst coughs and retreated to the bathroom trying to regain her composure. Her mother would probably have immediately said yes, she thought as she looked in the mirror at her watery eyes.

She picked up a tissue to wipe them as she thought about what her father's reaction might be. She hoped he would unwittingly save her from disaster as he seemed apt to do from time to time seeing as he wasn't all that into the devious plans of her mother for her "happy" marriage. After blowing her nose for good measure, she returned to the dining room to see that Mamoru-sama had already excused himself from the table along with her parents leaving Cai there poking at his pancakes.

He looked up at her when she walked in and smirked when she froze. "So, it would seem you are being punished for your rude manners yesterday," he remarked and she suppressed a sigh of relief knowing it had been her father who had rescued her. "Pity I have things I need to get done today or else I would have suggested I stay to keep you company." He was watching her face for a reaction but Hiro fought against giving him the satisfaction. After what seemed an eternity, he sighed and looked away from her face, standing up and straightening his jeans. She waited silently.

He seemed to be thinking hard about something whilst he stared at their plates of half eaten pancakes. The expression was soon replaced by his mean spirited expression and she took a step back in reaction. He laughed. "I suppose you can take care of the rest of this mess," he said gesturing toward their breakfast before he walked to and past her. Her body relaxed a little before going on full alert once more when he twitched the end of her braid.

"See you tomorrow, Chi-hi-ro," he said distinctly with a chuckle before he walked to the door, slipped his shoes on and walked out the door. Hiro pursed her lips, standing in the entry way of the dining room a few moments more before clearing the table with calm and collected movements. She wasn't going to let Cai Plowski under her skin or her mother's antics to get them together.

"May I help?" asked a gentle voice that caused Hiro to look up more sharply than she intended to. Only then did she realize how hard she had been scrubbing the dish that was clearly already clean. She did not respond as she let her gaze lower to the plate in her hands, ashamed that she had let the morning get to her.

A new pair of hands took the plate from her and rinsed it off quickly before placing it to dry on the rack and picking up the next plate that needed attention. She blankly stood there with her hands braced against the inside edge of the sink as Mamoru-sama continued to wash the dishes—her chore on Saturday mornings.

The man was silent, leaving her to her own thoughts but she didn't want the silence. Not from him. "Mamoru-sama… do you know how it feels to have someone constantly controlling you?" she asked, her tone leaning towards mournful as she looked up at his profile.

His gaze was intent upon the dish he was holding as he scrubbed it and it lightened her mood slightly. At her question however he turned to her with an expression that she could not quite interpret one way or another. "Yes, I am afraid so," he answered. The water continued to run over the dish he held as they looked at one another—his face inscrutable and her own opened like a well read book. She opened her mouth to say more when she heard a squawk come from the entrance between the hall and the kitchen. Hiro looked to her mother, startled and suddenly balked upon seeing her cheeks tinting pink in dissatisfaction.

"Chihiro, why is Mamoru-kun doing your chore?" she asked in a barely controlled voice. Hiro started to stutter while moving to take the dish from Mamoru-sama's hands but he held fast onto it without showing any change in his balance.

"I wanted some time to talk with Chihiro-san and felt bad watching her do the dishes all alone after Plowski seemed to have offered to help her clean…" Mamoru-sama explained, clearly conveying his disapproval of the boy not helping Hiro out. Hiro couldn't help but look at him slightly dumbfounded and when she heard Mrs. Ogino stuttering she turned a cautious face toward her and saw her blushing like a school girl. "So, if you don't mind, Mrs. Ogino, I would be more than happy to help Chihiro-san clean up." Hiro continued to watch the effect he had on her mother but she heard the polite smile in his voice.

Mrs. Ogino finally stopped stammering and just smiled an awkward shy smile before nodding and leaving the kitchen.

Hiro's baffled expression turned slowly from where her mother had just been standing to Mamoru-sama who had continued on to the next dish. When she realized he wasn't going to explain himself by observing the slight upward curve of his mouth, she laughed softly rubbing the back of her hand across her cheek before picking up one of the forks and washing it.

After that their talk turned more toward the weather and her impending grounding to her parents' property for the next few weeks. Mamoru-sama seemed only slightly surprised when she admitted to not minding being confined to the property. Upon his further questioning she answered by looking out the window that hung over the sink and toward the property with a smile.

"In all honesty, I think we have some of the finest grounds around here. Even more so than the parks. As long as I can have free rein over what we consider our backyard, I will be more than content—especially because I know all the best hiding places," she said in a covert whisper, putting a be-bubbled finger to her lips. "That way if Cai comes looking I can lose him just as easily as he can find me in the open kitchen." She turned back to the knife she was holding before she could see his smiling response.

"Perhaps we can make a sort of alliance, Chihiro-san," he said in his indecipherable way.

Hiro looked up at him with a furrowed brow. "How do you mean, Mamoru-sama?"

He didn't respond right away as he finished up the rest of the dishes before grabbing a towel and drying his hands. As he leaned up against the sink, he looked down at her with mischievous eyes. "How about I help you stay out of young Plowski's clutches and you help me with a project I am working on; what do you say?"

"If it keeps Cai away from me, then you have a deal," Hiro said with a grin, stretching her hand out to shake on it. His lips turned up at the corners warmly as he grasped her hand firmly.

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_Ah, hahaha! I have finally posted! Be ever so proud considering I am struggling through a rather severe writer's block on all my works at the moment. I hope this isn't nearly as painful to read as it was to write._

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	5. For the Love of Art

_Chapter 5- For the Love of Art  
_

The rest of the day was rather uneventful in Hiro's mind but every now and again she felt warmth on her hand—just a memory but it had been Mamoru-sama's hand that had held hers. She looked at her upturned hand, letting the book she was reading rest open against her chest as she did so. It seemed strange that such a hand shake could seem to hold so much import to her but as they had struck their deal, it seemed as though they had truly made a sort of pact…

She shook her head, wiping her hand on her pant leg to get rid of the notion before picking the book up again and reading further. She had barely gotten through a paragraph when a knock came on her door and she glanced over to see that it was already being opened. Mr. Ogino entered the room quietly as if sneaking, closing the door softly behind him before moving to Hiro's bed and sitting on the edge of it looking curious.

Hiro mimicked his expression with just the smallest hint of mockery before he spoke. "Chihiro… Mamoru-kun asked me just now if he might take you to the store. Do you have any idea why?" Her eyebrows rose a little in surprise, starting to shake her head no before she suddenly remembered the warm hand that clasped hers that morning.

"Well, this morning he asked me if I might help him on a project of his… perhaps that is why?" Hiro responded unsure herself of what they would need at the store or for that matter why she was supposed to go with him.

"A project? What kind of project?" he asked, genuinely curious and surprised by her admission.

"I am not sure, actually. I assume it has something to do with art seeing as he is an art teacher," she said with a shrug wondering if Mr. Ogino were actually considering letting her leave the house with Mamoru-sama when he had rejected Cai. She felt slightly amused at the prospect. She tried not to look hopeful as Mr. Ogino seemed to debate about something internally.

"Well, I already told him you could. I figured it couldn't be anything too exciting and thus go against the reason for your grounding," he looked at her sharply on this but she kept her face neutral with a shrug. "I told him I would tell you myself—and don't get any ideas about ditching him in the store. You are to go to the store and come right back, understand?" When she nodded, trying for an indifferent expression, he returned the nod and got up from the bed walking to the door.

"Oh, and Chihiro?" Mr. Ogino said, his hand on the doorknob.

"Yes?"

"Bundle up. It's a rather cold rain out there," he said in his fatherly way. She finally cracked a smile for him and after he smiled back he walked out and left her to get ready. When she was sure he wouldn't see, she leaped from the bed with a wide smile before moving quickly to her closet. Her excitement was thus that she didn't mind so much that all she had to wear with her current outfit was a pair of black, high heeled booties and a little puffier than she would like jacket. She carried the shoes to the front door and found Mamoru-sama already waiting with a coat and scarf tied classily about his neck.

She repressed the smile as best she could but from the light in his eyes she could tell she was failing quite remarkably. She took a little longer putting on her booties to make sure she was not blushing too much when she stood back up.

"Ready?" he asked and with her nod, he opened the front door to let her out and then he followed behind her. A small black Jetta sat in the driveway, already running and they made a quick dash to it. She was surprised when he followed her to the passenger side and opened the door to allow her to get in. She thanked him a little awkwardly but had a pleasant burn inside as she sat in the seat and he closed the door behind her.

They had driven in silence but it was a comfortable silence—the kind that you have with friends you have known for a long time and find comfort in their company even without having to fill the space with conversation.

Hiro kept her eyes out the passenger side window not trusting herself to not look at Mamoru-sama more than was strictly polite and she was thankful for the rain that gave her something to look at. She had been watching the droplets of water on the window slide by with the speed of the Jetta, catching up with other droplets to form larger ones as they skidded across the window. It was a calming thing to watch.

As he pulled in to a parking lot, she saw an art supplies store just across the way from her favorite burger place and she tried not to look too excited in case they were going solely to the art store. They moved quickly from the car, through the rain, and into the store, Mamoru-sama holding the door open for her so she could walk in. She felt that pleasant satisfaction again as she thanked him and walked through.

Hiro had been in this particular store before for paint supplies and also came from time to time to replace her favorite and most often used colored pencils from the special selections the store had to offer. Looking up at her soon to be teacher, she wondered which section would call for their attention. Feeling her eyes on his face, he looked down and smiled secretively at her and she could feel the reaction come forth in her cheeks as he looked away and strode down the aisles of the store. Shaking her head quickly, she skittered to catch up with him and found it was hard to keep up his pace but she continued on anyway.

She thought that perhaps they were heading for the ceramic department when the leader suddenly turned down the paint aisles. Wordlessly, he started picking up supplies that he apparently needed from brushes to paint and even a canvas. When he then turned into the graphite aisle she finally found her voice.

"So what are all these supplies for?" There wasn't even a pause in his movements as he answered her with a half smile.

"The project you agreed to work with me on," looking at her after he picked up the pencil he wanted along with a gummy eraser.

"What is it?" she inquired further, suddenly self-conscious under his gaze as she pretended to be more interested in a drawing pad in front of her than he answer. He chuckled causing her to look at him, confused.

"You will just have to wait and see until after we have had lunch and get back home," he admonished, holding up a finger in her direction whilst holding supplies carefully under his arm. She was torn between laughing at the rather oddly ridiculous picture she was beholding and shouting hooray at the mention of lunch.

On the way to the check out, supplies started trying to escape from his grasp and so she quickly plucked the paint and brushes from his hands. When he tried to protest she looked up at him with a decidedly bored expression. "If you are going to insist on taking me with you to the store, Mamoru-sama, then you are going to have to let me help out," she scolded before placing the items on the conveyor belt to which he simply smiled.

They had gone through the drive-thru and the Jetta was completely filled with the smell of burgers and fries. He had even bought Hiro a milkshake which she tried to drink slowly but it had been quite a while since the last one she had had and had forgotten how good they were. Mamoru-sama had asked her whether she had wanted to go inside but, knowing she would be let in on the mystery of their project once they got home, she decided to speed up the operation even though it meant prolonging the consumption of their burgers.

Hiro was surprised however when she found her parents had gone out for the day. According to the note they had left on the counter they wouldn't be back until later that evening… and it also read if Hiro stepped a toe out of the grounds after returning from the art store with Mamoru-sama… well, it wasn't going to be pretty.

Her ears perked when she heard the rustling of paper bags and she looked up to see the teacher unpacking their lunch. She took her meal from him with a grateful nod before tucking in. They ate silently for a little while until she finally got up the nerve to ask about the project—but then he spoke first.

"So I guess you want to know what the big secret project is?" he asked already knowing the answer. She nodded enthusiastically, taking a sip of her milkshake so he could continue without her interrupting. He smiled briefly before his expression became serious. "I want to paint a portrait of you."

* * *

_Casidhe here! _

_You have to give me some credit seeing as this was done sooner than the last update, right? Well anyway, here are the shout-outs.  
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_Gah! You guys are awesome! And please my other stories if you per chance have a thing for Yu Yu Hakusho or Harry Potter: Marauders. I just updated those two yesterday.  
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_As far as updates go, I am trying really hard to keep up. The construction dust from refurbishing my schedule has finally settled I think, so I can plan out what days I will be updating here pretty soon. Stay faithful for I will be faithful to you.  
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_Faithfully-  
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_CB  
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	6. Hide-and-Go-Seek

_Chapter 6: Hide-and-Go-Seek_

Hiro's lips quirked upward, as if she would start laughing, but with his face so serious the laugh seemed to die half way to her lips. Setting her burger down, she looked at him with a curious expression. After he wasn't forthcoming with an explanation, her gaze dropped to her hands on the counter. She replayed his words again, those simple words. _"I want to paint a portrait of you."_ She could feel the blush rise to the occasion and she looked up at Mamoru-sama again to see him still looking at her with his serious expression.

"Why?" she asked the obvious question, trembling fingers picked up her milkshake and she took a sip.

"Well, you are grounded to the same grounds on which I live and so I figure I will have plenty of access to you so it will only take a matter of days since I have a feeling your schedule won't be packed full of activities that would make it hard to set up a steady schedule for the sessions I would need you to model," Mamoru-sama answered, finally picking up his own burger and eating it calmly, ignoring Hiro's blushing face.

"Oh," she responded, blushing again at thinking that there was a more profound reason behind his painting her than the simple fact that she was the one person he had almost unlimited access to. She felt his eyes light on her face and she continued hoping he wouldn't pick up on her ridiculous notions and get uncomfortable. "And in return you will help me in my endeavors to dodge Cai?" she said letting her brown eyes lock with his sea-green ones.

A ghost of a smile flitted across his lips and she couldn't be sure why. "Yes, that was the agreement," he assured. She nodded and took another bite of her burger as if mulling over the deal once more although she already knew that she would be his muse in an instant.

"Well, anything is better than being in Cai's clutches," she said nonchalantly to which he simply laughed.

Mamoru-sama didn't invite her to his little apartment that evening or the next day and she wondered if he had only been kidding about painting her. She lay in her bed with a book two days after their trip to the store and though it had rained for two days straight, the sun rose warmly on the wet world. It was almost noon when she heard a knock on the front door of the Ogino residence. When her parents didn't rise to answer it, she grumbled softly to herself before rolling out of bed and making her way to the front door.

On the way, she picked some white fuzz off her black dress pants and smoothed out the front of her light blue blouse, itching gently at the high-neck wishing the buttons at the neck would actually unbutton instead of behind for mere decoration. She smiled briefly as she saw her purple hair tie around her wrist having opted to let her hair down for the day.

She wore the smile until she opened the door and it immediately dropped to be replaced with faint displeasure. Brown spiky hair coupled with pale green eyes in the fact of a 6' tall jock greeted her and she tried to close the door only to have half of his body walk across the threshold and make it impossible. "Hey, that's no way to greet your boyfriend," Cai said with a sly grin as he slithered the rest of his body into the house before closing the door behind him.

"The funny thing about being someone's boyfriend is you tend to have to be both a friend and a boy first," Hiro said in a dry tone as she turned away. "Now get out of my house," she said as she walked away but she didn't get very far as his arm encircled her shoulders and pulled her back flush against his chest. Her hands flew up to grab hold of his arm and pulled futilely at it.

She froze feeling his lips brush against her hair that covered her ear. His other hand moved up to sweep her hair behind her ear, the same hand trailing down her bare shoulder along her arm, his lips brushing her ear along the outer edge. "I am man. You are woman." His voice was dangerous and leaning toward seductive before he pressed an open mouthed kiss against her jaw and she cried aloud in sheer terror.

"Chihiro?" her mother's voice came from the living room and Hiro felt him smile against her cheek before pulling away before Mrs. Ogino turned the corner to see them standing in the entry way.

"Good morning, Mrs. Ogino," Cai said and Hiro could hear his charming smile. "I am afraid Chihiro-chan saw a spider but I have already taken care of it," he continued. Her mother cooed and praised his quick action as Hiro walked briskly past her mother and toward her room.

"Where are you going, Chihiro? You cannot leave your guest alone," Mrs. Ogino twittered turning to watch her daughter's retreating back and Hiro could feel the daggers in her gaze. Hiro tried to compose her face and turned back not sure if she had succeeded.

"I am afraid I am not feeling well enough for visitor's mother," she responded but before she could turn around her mother insisted that it was merely due to the fact that the rain had kept her inside for two days straight and that a walk in the ground's gardens with Cai would be just the thing. Hiro was impressed that she refrained from rolling her eyes at the rather preposterous statement. She forced a smile receiving the full brunt of her mother's expression while Cai was still standing behind the formidable woman.

"Of course," she strained changing her direction from her room to the back porch, Cai jogging a few steps and catching up with her, slipping his arm about her waist and she tensed every muscle in her body as they walked first out onto the verandah then down the steps and onto the still dewy grass. Cai hadn't taken his shoes off and Hiro hadn't put any on.

"You should wear your hair like this more often, Chi-hi-ro," Cai said as the hand about her waist moved easily into the hair that trailed about her mid back. "It's silky," he commented and she bore with the attention until they hit a point on the path where she knew they were out of sight of the back porch windows at which point she slipped quickly from his arm and glared at him, her hands in fists at her side.

"So help me, Cai, you touch me like that again and I'll…" she began to threaten when he took a quick step toward her, his hands easily slipping about her waist.

"You'll what?" he asked softly, dipping his head towards her. Hiro's hand went flying but he caught it, holding it by the wrist, palm up. Fear and anger were battling inside her and she practically shrieked when his lips pressed against her palm. She kneed him, something he hadn't expected, and as he curled about himself she flew like the wind.

Hiro had started aiming for the house but remembering her mother was there, she turned tail and ran back in a diagonal from where she had come from Cai. She heard him stumbling down the path and moved from the path onto the stones that led up to Mamoru-sama's porch. She wasn't sure if the teacher was home but she prayed some luck would be in her favor as she knocked as loudly as she dared in hopes that he would hear and Cai wouldn't.

She heard the latter's shoes slapping against the path and she looked fearfully over her shoulder, with a hand raised to knock again when she suddenly pitched forward with a squeal that was drowned out by the shutting of the door behind her and a gentle hand against her lips. She trembled with her back against the wood of the door as she looked up into Mamoru-sama's face where that ghost of a smile lived. Presently, he stood away from her to look out the curtains that shuttered his windows and the smile became more prominent as he watched Cai debating furiously as to whether he should call out for Hiro or leave the premises gracefully.

"I suppose there is no avoiding it," Mamoru-sama said letting the curtain fall back into place before looking down at her form that had slid to sit on the floor against the door. "You will just have to hide here until he leaves." He walked back to where she sat and slid down the wall beside her, his knees pulled up and his arms casually draped around them, one hand grasping his wrist as he looked across the room toward the doors Hiro knew led to the bedroom and bathroom.

Her heart had settled somewhat after her flight and she looked up at him, her head leaned against the door. "How long do you suppose that will be?" she asked. He shrugged his shoulders before casting her sideways glance.

"It might be all afternoon depending on how determined he is to find you," he said, exaggerating she was sure but she didn't mind the idea of spending the afternoon with him as opposed to with Cai.

"Well sitting around here hiding doesn't sound too fun," she teased looking up at the ceiling. She could see him looking thoughtful on her periphery, more for show, she was sure, than actually thinking about what they could do.

"I suppose we could always start that painting I told you about the other day," he said, "after all, the sun has finally come out so there is a little more natural light to be had," Mamoru-sama continued gesturing to the window to the far left of them. It was the window that faced away from the main house. She nodded slowly before standing up and walking over to the window to look out, careful not to lean out in case a certain someone were looking for her just outside the guest house. The sun warmed her face, a small breeze sweeping in through the open window and shifting her hair softly against her shoulders.

She looked over her shoulder to see the man moving about and collecting the tools he would use for the project. She registered the dark jeans he wore with envy that her mother hadn't control over his comfort and she smiled softly as she studied his well-tailored shirt. It was a deep crimson color and turning to her, she saw that the top two buttons were casually left open revealing the edges of his collarbone.

He, too, had left his hair unbound but as she watched quietly, he was pulling it back from his face in a loose ponytail to keep it from getting in his way. It took her the usual moment to realize he had caught her in her staring and she turned as casually as she possibly could to look out the window. She rolled her eyes at herself, reprimanding mentally that she wouldn't be able to do that when school got back into session. 'So stop making a habit of it!' she finished before looking back at him and finding that he was a lot closer than when she had looked away.

"Gah!" she exclaimed, jumping away and almost out the window, catching herself against the sill, her hand to her heart.

He chuckled, his brow furrowed in a humored way. "I am sorry to startle you. Now, if you will allow me," he said and that was the only warning he gave before he grasped her hands and pulled her slightly away from the window. He helped her to sit in a chair he had brought over. A wooden chair with a soft cushion she admired the craftsmanship of it and her memories informed her that it wasn't one of the furniture pieces supplied by her parents for the guest house. He instructed her to cross one leg over the other and then told her to rest her chin in her hand, elbow on the armrest, looking out the window.

Her other arm he couldn't seem to decide on for a while. Wherever he placed it, on the armrest or her lap, he would not be satisfied until his eyes lit up with an idea. He disappeared into the bedroom and she heard him rummaging around a little. Almost ten minutes later he reappeared, holding something in his hand. She looked at him curiously and he held it up for her to see. It was a heart-shaped locket of gold, cunningly crafted with a lattice of rose vines.

"May I?" he asked unclasping it and gesturing to her. She was a little speechless and thus simply nodded before he walked to stand behind her, draping the necklace about her and connecting the clasp. He gathered her hair gently and the chain slipped over it so it would lie neatly under her sheet of brown hair. She let her fingers skim gently over the heart as Mamoru-sama walked back around to look at the affect. He guided her back into the pose he wanted and asked that she hold the heart loosely in her hand, thoughtfully. "As though you are thinking of some past love you may never see again," he continued.

Haku's face flashed into her mind and as she held the locket, her heart pulsed. Hiro looked up into Mamoru-sama's face briefly before looking back out the window. Mamoru-sama isn't Haku, she thought painfully to herself. The former pushed her hair softly away from her face, behind her ear and the warmth lingered. Or is he? Her thoughts were a-whirl.

"Mamoru-sama?" she asked suddenly, looking up into his sea green eyes that had been trained on her from above for heaven knows how long. He seemed to snap out of his own reverie.

"Shall we begin?" he asked not letting her continue her question as he moved to sit with the canvas. She pursed her lips softly, took up the pose and listened absently to the soft scratching of a pencil against the canvas as she thought of Haku.

* * *

_So, I am surprised but totally happy and content with the fact that I got 4 whole reviews after the last chapter! It was definitely a boost of confidence because to be honest, I wasn't so sure about the whole painting Chihiro thing... but it has had some positive feedback so I will not apologize for it! _

_Reviews: XXPayXtra4ShippingsXX, EasternWindDragon, Carly, and litugreen!_

_It has also come to my attention that in some of my post-notes I may have missed a name of a favorite-r, follower or reviewer or that it didn't save properly...? I would go back and fix it but I haven't any idea who I missed and such but this is what I will do. When this story comes to an end (for all good stories must) I will post, again, a list of all who have ever given this story their very fine support. Big smile! So look forward to it! And I hope this chapter isn't too boring. _

_Much Love!_

_CB_


	7. Cry

_Chapter 7: Cry_

They remained silent for the next few hours, every now and again Mamoru-sama prompting Hiro to put a little more energy in her pose so she didn't mess with the sketching process. When Hiro had gotten a little stubborn he looked at her sternly. "It is only a little while longer, so please bear with it. Then you can move as much as you please when I am painting," he said bracingly. Feeling properly chastised she didn't complain again and sat as straight and solidly as possible.

It wasn't until the sun was setting that Mamoru-sama finally stood, stretching his arms overhead, his long legs unbending from their position and Hiro realized how still he had sat as well as herself and she again felt slightly humbled by the moment. His lips pulled a soft smile as he looked at her from his chair. "You can stand now, Chihiro-san," he encouraged. His sudden talking startled her and she immediately shot up from her chair before sitting back where she had been, holding her head with a soft oh. "Chihiro!" he said urgently, by her side quicker than she thought possible. "Are you alright?" He touched her knee and she looked up at him, startled again but she moved her head slower.

"I just moved too fast and got dizzy," she said, her brow furrowed at his concern.

"Oh, of course," he said quietly his hand still on her knee. They didn't move and Hiro's brow smoothed as she felt her cheeks warm again. He wasn't so very close to her but the small contact seemed to bring him that much closer. His sea green eyes caught what little left natural light there was as the sun set just outside his window and she wondered how he had been able to see any detail of her to draw from in the last hour or so, with the sun so directly behind her. Some of his hair had slipped across his brow and her fingers itched to stroke it back, away from his face but she felt frozen under his gaze, the gaze she just realized had been trained on her for the last four or so hours. She pressed her lips together and finally let her gaze fall to his hand on her knee. He had long fingers that lent an air of elegance.

Her own fingers were pretty average compared and she could compare seeing as her pinky was barely an inch away from his longest finger. She felt a strange comfort settle over her soul with the small contact, a comfort she hadn't felt in a long time. She hesitated only briefly before stretching her pinky out to touch his fingers. She could feel Mamoru-sama watching her closely as his hand slipped up to capture hers and she suddenly realized how much bigger he was than her. Hiro's head snapped up to look at him and he smiled briefly before pulling her out of the chair to stand. He walked away from her toward the door but wasn't holding tightly enough to pull her along allowing his fingers to brush from her palm to the tips.

Hiro closed her fingers over the tingling feeling as he opened the door and looked out briefly before returning his warm eyes to her face. "The coast is clear, your mother will probably be looking for you for dinner," he said stepping back to allow her through the door. It seemed to take a long time to get to the door and out onto his front doorstep when she looked back at him to see if he was coming. He stood inside, however, his hand lazily on the door frame.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked, her heart stuttering when he looked up from the ground to her face. He pursed his lips briefly before looking off to the side.

"I am not feeling up to dinner, I'm afraid. Give your parents my hellos," he said before he retreated into the guest house and closed the door.

The sun had dipped down below the horizon a good hour before dinner was ready and Hiro was grateful to see that Cai had indeed left and without letting her parents in on the fact that she had laid him low and taken off to who knows where. Setting the table, she smiled to herself reveling in her secretly spent afternoon with Mamoru-sama that wouldn't be questioned by her parents. She knew if they had any suspicions that she had left the grounds, they could just watch the security cameras that were trained on the edges of their property but as it was summer, there were many times during summers past where they wouldn't see her all day because she was in the "backyard" reading among the trees or something along those lines.

Dinner was a quiet affair. Only the slightest look of query was sent Hiro's way when her mother suggested they invite the quiet young man to eat with them and Hiro told them that he hadn't felt up to it. But a mild discomfort settled in her heart when Mrs. Ogino wondered aloud if he might be feeling under the weather. She had assured her parents that he seemed in good health when he had greeted her on her way back to the house earlier that evening but the niggling thought had been planted and she was quickly eating so she could return to her teacher and ask if he was feeling well.

She chafed at her mother's insisting that she do the dishes herself (another punishment, she said, for the other night) and she rolled her eyes mentally at her mother telling her not to treat the dishes so roughly when their loud clinking carried from the kitchen and dining room to her parents bedroom down the hall.

She sighed in relief when she finished the last dish and put it on the drying rack. Sure that her parents were settled into their room for the evening, Hiro walked briskly to the verandah and skipped easily down the steps moving quickly through the grass, across the usual path and onto the round stone pathway that led to the guest house front steps. When she finally alighted the steps she hesitated with her hand poised to knock.

Perhaps she was just being paranoid and he simply didn't want to be badgered by her mother once more about his singleness. Before she could banish these thoughts and knock, the door opened and she yelped in alarm and down the stairs before looking up to see Mamoru-sama looking down at her. His brow had been furrowed in thought but at the sight of her it smoothed and his eyebrows shot up instead. She swallowed nervously looking up at him before suddenly lapsing into formal manners and bowing at the waist to him. While she was bent over she rattled off her explanation. "When I told mother that you wouldn't be coming to dinner she wondered aloud if you might be sick and so I suddenly got worried and felt I had to come back and make sure that you merely didn't want to be in my family's presence this evening and thus decided to dine by yourself," she said rambling but came to an abrupt stop when she heard a soft snort of laughter.

Hiro looked up at him briefly and feeling embarrassed turned away and started back down the stones toward the house. A hand on her shoulder stopped her and she turned back to look at him, the moon intermittently being obscured by cloud. The smile he wore faded as he took a step closer to her and touched her face. It was then that she realized that she had been crying for he wiped a few tears from her cheek. Her heart stuttered and she pulled back slightly to rub her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I was just…" she tried to articulate why she was crying but she didn't really understand it herself. She felt a hand on the top of her head and she looked up slightly continuing to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"I did not mean to worry you, Chihiro-san," he apologized, "I promise, I am fine." His hand stayed atop her head and she buried her face in her hands not able to stop crying, small whimpers escaping her lips as she tried to hold it in. She heard his intake of breath before he pulled her closer to the guest house and, sitting on the steps, pulled her down to sit on the step below cradled in his arms and pulled gently against his chest. He didn't say a word but she felt all her strength leave her and cried openly. All the harshness from Cai and gentleness of this man clashed together and forced her emotions to loose themselves.

She felt his long fingers stroke through her hair from the crown to the tips in long graceful movements. He did not shush her but at one point she felt his head lean on hers. A gentle summer breeze swept over them and she burrowed closer to him, something in the back of her mind registering shock at her audacity to be so close to Mamoru-sama, her soon-to-be ceramics teacher but she couldn't seem to make herself leave the comfort, a comfort that felt so familiar and yet from the vaguest and furthest reaches of her dreams.

Thunder rumbled in the distance as her tears finally stopped and she hiccupped softly, resting close against his soft shirt. Once she stopped crying, she could register other things other than the overflowing comfort. Her forehead, for example, had been pressed against the small V that his shirt created against his chest and his shirt smelled nice, Old Spice and the air of spring turning to summer, refreshingly cold but comfortingly warm.

She wasn't sure how long they sat there, but the storm was moving in again and soon Mamoru-sama was standing and pulling her up with him. She took a moment to orient herself and took a step toward the house when her knee gave out and he caught her easily. He swung her up into his arms and walked down the hill with her ear against his calmly beating heart. In her sleepy state, it seemed that something else outside of Mamoru-sama opened the sliding door and closed it behind him when he walked past.

She assumed she must have told him where her room was because that's where they went. The blankets were turned down with little effort and he slipped her into bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. Hiro looked up at him foggily but she could have sworn there was a sadness to his features and she reached up to touch his face that he had bent over her. Her hand slipped up his chin to his gently curved cheek bone and he closed his eyes to lean into it briefly before taking it from his face in his hand and tucked her back in again. She felt as though she dreamt his hand sweeping her hair from her forehead and down along her cheek.

"Sleep well, Chihiro," he murmured and as the door closed the heavens broke open and the rain started to let out its fury. Within the thunder she thought she heard the cry of the dragon she knew from so long ago but she couldn't be sure in her half-conscious state as she drifted off completely and dreamed of riding with the river spirit again.

* * *

_Casidhe here!_

_Oh! How giddy it made me to come home from class and find that I had, not one, but FOUR reviews! In the last three hours, might I add! And so... I could not contain myself and wrote another chapter for you. See what happens when I get encouraging reviews? Love it! _

_Oh! And I also totally love the loathing toward Cai. I would not have it any other way. Wonderful._

_Reviews: litugreen, XXPay4XtraShippingsXX, EasternWindDragon, and Carly!_

_And I am glad you don't feel like there is too much, you know, romantic schtuffs and I was worried about the whole Cai/Hiro interaction when he first walked in the door. I mean, from time to time, I love writing a bad guy that you want to love (like Loki from Thor!) but I really want us all to be completely disgusted by Cai. Just my personal feeling toward him. _

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And don't forget to check out my other stuff if you're into Harry Potter:Marauders or Yu Yu Hakusho (particularly Kurama... which is weird because I usually write for Hiei... ahem, anyway). _

_CB_

_P.S. I suppose the whole Chihiro crying thing might be a little odd but sometimes us girls just need a good cry and I thought Chihiro had earned one at this point. I personally always feel so refreshed after a good long cry. _


	8. There's a Possibility

_Chapter 8: There's a Possibility  
_

Hiro felt as though even in her grounded state she was starting to fall into a routine. Every morning would bring Cai and breakfast with her parents before Mr. Ogino took off to work. Once in a while, Mamoru-sama would join them but the further along summer progressed the more he kept to his own meals. Hiro knew she only bore with it because after the agony of doing dishes with Cai, she would escape outside, lose the nuisance in the stand of trees that made up the backyard before taking a round about way and sneaking to the young teacher's home.

The first few times this happened, he had her sit in the same chair by the window, rain or shine. He had to adjust her pose every time and she did her best not to blush not wanting him to pick up on the detail and possibly add it to the picture. But she got a thrill each time and had to admit to the fact that after a time she would do it on purpose.

This worked for about a week at which time he had finished sketching and was finally ready to paint. This was a little more temperamental step of the project, Mamoru-sama insisted upon only the best sun light with which to work with. Most days it would just delay the painting for an hour or so during which they talked. Mamoru-sama asked most of the questions and at one point Hiro teased and asked if he had been planning to write a biography to go with the picture.

"I am merely trying to catch up to where you are, Chihiro-san, you have lived quite a few years after all," he had explained letting his gaze lower to the pencil and paper in his hands that had been mysterious to her until she had caught sight of what he scribbled down on them. It wasn't scribbles. They were sketches. Good and accurate of her eyes and lips displaying a variety of expressions, some of which she hadn't known she had been giving.

It had been a good couple of weeks, however, when the rain came back… or at least the clouds did. Surprisingly, Cai hadn't come that morning and so Hiro calmly walked along the path into the wooded area. She was trying to decide on what excuse she could give to Mamoru-sama to allow her to spend the afternoon with him in spite of the weather when she ran into him quite literally.

She almost fell backward but he caught her arm and steadied her. Hiro looked up startled by his sudden appearance. "I'm so sorry!" she stammered. "I wasn't watching where I was going…" she trailed off looking away from those calm eyes feeling anything but calm.

"What were you thinking about? I have never seen anyone stare so intently at the ground they were walking on," he said, the undercurrents of laughter made her groan in embarrassment at having him laugh at her… again. When she wasn't forthcoming with an answer she felt his hand slip along her cheek and tilt her face up to look at him. This was another habit they had formed over the past few weeks. He would compel an answer out of her whether she wanted to clue him into her thoughts or not but she tried to veer her thought process so as to not admit to thinking desperately of a way to spend the day with him.

Whilst she searched for a topic her mind lit up and she looked at him as steadily as she could. "I was just thinking about school is around the corner and how it's my senior year and all," she said throwing in a nonchalant shrug for good measure. His lips pressed together almost imperceptibly but she knew he didn't believe her. However, in his very Mamoru-sama way, he let it pass and instead continued on this new train of thought.

"And have you thought at all about the college you want to attend?" he asked turning with a gesture of his hand down the path and they fell into step side by side. Since her mind hadn't actually been on the topic of school, her mind raced frantically. She used to be really good under pressure and her mind suddenly flickered to her time at the spirit bath house with Yubaba and Haku. Her lips turned up slightly at the memory of how she had stopped No-Face from terrorizing the bath house and also when she had taken the trip to Zeniba's to return her seal.

Mamoru-sama stayed silent beside her but she felt his presence drift closer to her side. Hiro looked over and jumped with a squeak in surprise, even stopping her stride. She saw him smile as he was bent over slightly at the waist. Apparently he had been trying to get a better look at her face but now he stood up straight, the smile still on his lips. "That, I am afraid, is not the expression one usually wears when one is thinking of college," he explained and the warmth in his eyes stirred her heart as he turned away to walk further down the path.

Hiro's hands fumbled at the hem of her shirt for a few moments, debating whether she should voice her suspicions. "Mamoru-sama!" she called out louder than she had meant to extricating another blush from her face but he stopped and turned around to look at her, the same smile, the same warmth and her heart stopped.

"It is you," she whispered, a sudden gust of wind carrying her words away from her lips and over her shoulder. He looked curiously at her for a moment and she realized he hadn't heard her. As she opened her mouth to say it again she heard her mother call for her. Hiro grimaced before looking over her shoulder to just barely be able to see the back porch and her mother standing thereon with her hands cupped around her mouth and calling her name again.

"You should probably go," Mamoru-sama said softly whipping Hiro's head back around to find him just a few inches from her. She tilted her head back to look at him and she was going to repeat those three words when suddenly he leaned in close, his face slipping past hers so their cheeks brushed. His hair brushed over her shoulder and she was frozen between the need to stand very still and the desire to throw her arms about him. "I'll see you at dinner," he said softly and her face fell into a small glower, her cheeks glowing as she stepped back hastily from him.

"And you needed to whisper that?" she asked sharply to cover up her own embarrassment at thinking that he had been about to kiss her and she turned on her heel and retreated as quickly as her legs would possibly carry her, sure that he was laughing to himself.

It turned out that Mamoru-sama wasn't the only dinner guest the Oginos were expecting. Hiro tried to remind herself not to glower too darkly when the Plowskis arrived but at that moment she was having a hard enough time not glowering at herself in the mirror. Although it was pouring outside, Mrs. Ogino had insisted she wear the triple lined and layered white cotton sun dress that had suddenly appeared in her wardrobe. Her hair was pulled up again with a few curls whisping along the edges of her face.

On top of everything else (for Mrs. Ogino had insisted the wearing of shoes even down to the heeled white sandals inside the house, which they never did) Hiro's mother had confiscated her purple hair tie and she felt utterly naked without it. She heard a knock on her door and she called for whoever it was to come in. Mr. Ogino came in looking at her carefully before hugging her from behind and looking over her head into the reflection's eyes.

"You look beautiful, Chihiro," he said in his most fatherly manner. She sighed and looked down. "Just try to get through this dinner, alright?"

"Dad," she mumbled looking up again at their reflections. He had a half smile on and he shrugged.

"Look, I know you're not exactly a fan of the Plowskis," he began and when her eyes shifted meaningfully he amended, "okay or just one of the Plowskis, but this means a lot to your mother so, try? And return," he said turning her about when she looked mutinous, "I'll insist that your mother stop forcing it, okay?" She pursed her lips looking down briefly before looking back up into Mr. Ogino's face.

"And no more morning visits from Cai?" she asked her face contorting into the expression that she had just tasted something sour that might give way into sweetness. He smiled with a chuckle.

"One step at a time, Chihiro," he said before squeezing her shoulders and walking out the door. Hiro watched him walk out and she permitted herself a smile thankful that she had someone in the family on her side. She knew that Mr. Ogino would have loved things to work between her and Cai as well but he apparently had seen that it was no use to press his strong-willed daughter to accept the mayor's son.

Turning back to her reflection she smoothed the skirt of her dress before walking out to have her last meal with Cai.

* * *

_Casidhe here! Sorry it took a bit longer than my last post but hey! Look how much I have been loved!_

_Favorites: DannisaurLove98, Cheerhappy998_

_Followers: dustin902, DannisaurLove98, yuki100o, Cheerhappy998_

_Reviews: EasternWindDragon, XXPayXtra4ShippingsXX, akira-chan101 (on both chapters 4 and 7!), Carly, DannisaurLove98, yuki100o_

_You all keep on surprising me with your love for my story and I am most grateful for your support! Oh, and dear yuki100o, I don't think I will take Cai completely out yet because where would my conflict come from? Ah, but I think I just thought of a most brilliantly twist so bear with Chihiro's perseverance. Trust me, I have been forcing myself to NOT let her snap just yet... but it will most likely come before too much longer. _

_Take care! Hope to hear from you all soon!_

_CB_


	9. Go Slap a Codfish

_Chapter 9: Go Slap a Codfish  
_

Hiro walked into the dining room quite calmly after her father's pep talk. She reminded herself upon seeing the Plowskis that it was just one night longer. Her heart also lifted when Mamoru-sama walked in through the back door, dressed in slacks, a blue button up shirt and black tie. He had pulled his hair back into a simple, black elastic and he caught Hiro's eyes and smiled tight-lipped at her and she realized she had been staring.

She wrenched her gaze away, his eyes having reminded her of her earlier revelation. She glanced again his way as he was introduced to the Plowskis (although he had already met Cai) and she felt her heart grow more determined. She would clarify her suspicions after the dinner party… for better or worse, she just had to know if he, Mamoru-sama, was Kohaku, returning to her side to fulfill his promise. _'We'll see each other again, I promise,'_ he had said, and those words rang through her as clearly as the moment he had said them.

Hiro's heart was warm and thus she could even greet Cai with a polite smile even though he was already acting his arrogant self and sidling up close to her. She glided to his parents and shook their hands, Mrs. Plowski in another of her eye-catching dresses. Hiro laughed mentally when she felt under dressed in her own house but didn't think much of it as Mrs. Ogino called her to help bring things to the table.

Mamoru-sama followed her into the kitchen and was almost followed by Cai when Mr. Ogino expertly caught his attention and started to ask how the last week had been noting, but not emphasizing, the fact that they hadn't seen him that morning.

Hiro picked up a rather heavy bowl of corn on the cob and it was deftly slipped from her hands by Mamoru-sama. "I could carry that," she said the embarrassment and shyness lighting her face but he simply smiled and waited for her to pick up something else. She chose the salad and with a grin balanced the bowl in one hand and picked up the two bottles of dressing with her other hand.

He rolled his eyes at her in mock long-suffering and followed her from the kitchen to the dining room with Mrs. Ogino following with the baking dish full of fish that she had been preparing all afternoon. Bread and butter had already been set out on the table along with plain white rice and Hiro mentally noted that it seemed to be a strange combination of foods but when Mayor Plowski practically gushed over the items she realized her mother had been trying to please everyone. She smiled reminding herself that her mother had her virtues aside from her stubbornness to see Hiro with the man she felt she had chosen for her.

They all sat down at the table and Hiro took a deep breath as she sat next to Cai, Mamoru-sama was kitty corner to her being the odd one out and sitting on one side of the square table by himself, not that he seemed to mind all that much. They were using the table with the chairs which the Ogino's never used unless they had company such as the Plowskis or Mr. Ogino's other business partners.

There was the easy bustle and murmuring of pleases and thank-you's around the table as all the food was passed about along with the wine for the grown ups and Cai (the Plowskis having allowed him to drink wine under their supervision since he was 15) and sparkling cider for Hiro. She poured it for herself and was surprised when she felt a hand on her elbow and she looked up from her glass to see a pair of sea green eyes looking at her. The mayor and her father were having a rather loud discussion about business in town and so as not to interrupt them, Mamoru-sama had reached over easily to grab Hiro's attention. She asked with her eyebrows what the matter was and he asked softly if he could have some of the cider as well.

She looked at him in surprise before dissolving into giggles at having thought his grasping her elbow meant more than just wanting something to drink. "But why not the wine?" she asked back before holding her hand out for his glass. He allowed a half smile at this.

"I have never really had a taste for the stuff," he admitted as he let go of her elbow to hand her the glass, letting his gaze flicker slightly to look at Cai beyond her who was seething just under his mask of forced politeness and indifference but it apparently bothered him greatly, the ease of interaction between Hiro and the teacher.

"So, Mr. Kawa," Mayor Plowski said, cutting Mr. Ogino's protest to whatever he hadn't agreed with during their conversation, "You're going to be the new ceramics teacher?"

Mamoru-sama looked up from Hiro pouring his cider and nodded politely. "Yes, that is right Mayor Plowski. Though I hear that your own son graduated last year…?" he returned not even looking at Cai though the intensity of his glare seemed to graze just past Hiro's ear on its way to the older man's face.

"Yes, yes that is correct. I am afraid, though, that even if Cai was going to school this year he isn't very inclined toward the arts," Mrs. Plowski simpered as if mildly upset that Cai was all sports and no finesse. Hiro snorted into her glass at the truth of the sentiment in all areas of Cai's life. In her opinion, the only reason he had girlfriends in high school was because he was popular for his sports playing and his body, which really was nothing that even Hiro could sneer at. She felt his glare turn on her and she couldn't help but find humor in it as she put her cup down and laughed daintily into her napkin.

"Oh? Well, that is a shame. I am sure I could have taught him how to make a vase or something delicate for yourself on Mother's Day, Mrs. Plowski," Mamoru-sama said with effortless charm and Hiro smiled down at the fish she picked up with her fork before putting it in her mouth.

"What are you smiling at, Chihiro?" Cai asked his voice butter smooth as he slipped his hand onto her knee and she jumped slightly the smile disappearing as she jerked her leg from his grasp.

"No reason," she said tightly placing her false smile on her lips before looking across to his parents wondering if they knew of his lecherous ways. "Does one need something to smile at all the time?" she asked, politely aiming the question at his supposedly oblivious parents.

"Well, even if we don't get to know the reason," Mayor Plowski ventured, "every woman has her reasons," he finished, picking his wife's hand up into his and kissing the back of it.

"Oh stop it, Richard," Mrs. Plowski said with fake embarrassment before taking a sip of her wine. Cai kept his hands to himself for the rest of the meal for the most part aside from attempting to catch her hand the few times it wasn't in her lap but was resting on the table instead. She slapped his hand rather hard surprising Mrs. Ogino but before the Plowskis could voice their own concern she did her best imitation of Mrs. Plowski's tittering at her husband to behave himself but toward Cai. It sickened her to do it but after doing it she saw the look of approval and brief nod from Mr. Ogino encouraging and seeming to say it was almost over.

Dessert came out then and that is where it all fell apart. It seemed harmless enough. Just ice cream and cake, with chocolate syrup. Hiro out right laughed when her father cracked a joke that subtly referenced Cai (but only she and her father seemed to pick up on it). However, Cai commented on her smiling and laughing face (very complimentary of course) but pointing at her face he also said, "You have some chocolate right there," and he took Hiro's chin in his fingers and kissed it off. To say she flipped would be an understatement.

After feeling a rather definitive full-body shiver, during which his mouth was still on the corner of hers, she pushed violently away from the table and stood up at the same time. He deftly followed as if to balance her but she swatted his hand away from her waist. "That is it, Cai!" she exclaimed.

"Now, don't make a scene, Chihiro, we all know that we are dating. What's a small kiss amid family?" he asked coolly. While he had been talking to her, Cai had been holding his hands placating in front of himself then reached to grasp her hips—perhaps to pull her in for a real kiss this time but his face didn't get within a foot of hers before the dining room rang with sound of her hand meeting his face.

"You are insane," she said evenly and in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "We are not dating. We have never dated. And we will never date!" she continued, the decibels of her voice increasing with every statement. From the looks on the Plowskis' faces, this was new news to them and Mrs. Ogino looked wounded. Mr. Ogino looked suspiciously proud and Mamoru-sama… looked on the verge of laughter. Cai looked livid. "Dad," Hiro said in a softer voice, "may I be excused to my room for the remainder of the evening?" Cai's expression changed to that of a codfish, mouth gaping at first Hiro and then Mr. Ogino as he nodded silently.

She inclined her head briefly to the gathered, wiping the side of her mouth as she walked briskly away from the dining room and into her bedroom.

* * *

_Wow! So many reviews and stuff for me! I am excited and feel very much loved. _

_Shout Outs-_

_Reviews: XXPayXtra4ShippingsXX, Ialiceiamagodness, EasternWindDragon, litugreen, Bigbangfan19, Carly, Hunnybunny12, xMidnightHunter1553x, and Guest._

_I would respond to all individually but it seems most are simply supportive but I feel I must address Guest:_

_Miss/Mr. Guest: I am actually not going to apologize for the seeming lack of romance in my story. Firstly, this is only the 9th chapter and I do plan on their being quite a few more. Secondly, I suppose my definition of romance might not be the same as yours, dear. There have been a few reviews remarking on the romance that I have put in here, and I feel it is appropriate for the current situations of my characters. So. If you are looking for grand kissing/almost sex scenes, I will let you know now that those aren't my style of writing. If you aren't happy with this insight into the mind of Casidhe, then I assure you there are other fanfictions that have to do with Chihiro and Kohaku that would be more fitting to your definition of romance. Good luck in your search!_

_Favorites: Cheerhappy998 (can't remember if this was a new one and too lazy to double check... ah ha...), gleekklainefan, .1  
_

_Followers: Cheerhappy998 (...), gleekklainefan, .1, PhoenixPheathers12 (and by the way, Phoenix, I think your name is very clever...)_

_Again! Thank you so much for your support! I hope it doesn't feel like I jumped the gun too much in Chihiro's lashing out at Cai. And I hope that I do not lose too many of you due to my admission of what kind of "romance" you can expect NOT to see in my writing... ahem. But without further ado. Happy March! And let me know what you think.  
_

_C.B._


	10. Dreams

_Chapter 10: Dreams  
_

It had taken Hiro no time at all to change from the forced dress into her nightgown. She felt the keen inclination to burn all the clothes that had been bought to please the Plowski family's tastes but she restrained herself, having to admit that at least a handful of the blouses weren't all that terrible. It had stopped raining, so she had opened her window to let the rain washed breeze drift into her room.

She was reclined on her bed, a book held propped up against her chest in her hands when a knock came to her door. She sat up slowly, placing her book mark carefully in the pages to mark her place before slipping off her bed and walking to her door.

Opening it revealed Mr. Ogino and Hiro relaxed, opening the door wider to allow him in if he would. "So, what's the damage?" she asked seriously, taking a seat on her bed and watching as her father walked over to sit on the chair that went to her desk. He sighed giving her a long look, trying to stop the smile from curving his lips.

"Well, thankfully Mr. Plowski and my business is mature enough to not be swayed by the spats between our children," Mr. Ogino said and Hiro relaxed even more.

"Did you think it would?" she asked timidly.

Mr. Ogino looked thoughtful for a few moments. "To be honest, I was a little worried. But when the Plowski's were leaving, the mayor was already chuckling about the matter. Apparently he was very much like Cai in his youth but Cai's level of disillusionment was on a new level even in Mayor Plowski's eyes."

"He laughed?"

"Yes, he laughed. Then he assured me that he would talk to the boy when they got home about leaving you be," Mr. Ogino said as he stood up and looked down at his daughter whose face was suddenly incredulous.

"Really? Does this mean I'm not ground anymore…?" she asked somewhat hopeful to which her father responded with a hearty laugh.

"I think I might be able to convince your mother," he replied as he walked to the door. She felt herself beam as she stood up. "Now why don't you come join us for s'mores?" he asked.

"Us? Mom doesn't like s'mores," Hiro said as she walked across her room to join her father outside her door.

"Oh I know. But apparently, Mamoru-kun cannot get enough of them," he said smiling at her with a strangely knowing look in his eye. Hiro pretended not to see it as she walked past him and toward the backyard verandah.

"Well, we shouldn't keep him waiting," Hiro said offhandedly and tried to ignore her father's amused chuckles behind her.

Looking up at the night sky, Hiro saw that it was still overcast though it had stopped pouring and she wondered at the fact that they were going to roast marshmallows when it threatened to rain. She stopped worrying about the weather when she saw Mamoru-sama standing with his back to her, warming his hands at the fire that they had obviously built a while before Mr. Ogino had gone to retrieve her for the event. Her heart fluttered and her soul calmed. A small smile flitted across her features as she joined him and sighed, content to know that Cai would never interrupt the peace again.

The warmth of the fire touched her palms and cheeks and she listened to the crickets chirruping invisibly in the grass around the fire pit. They stood in companionable silence for a little while whilst her father started to open the marshmallows and stuck one on the end of the roasting stick.

"Chihiro," he said, handing the stick to her and she thanked him, holding it near the coals her father had already set far enough from the fire so her marshmallow wouldn't catch fire as easily. Soon a marshmallow joined hers and she glanced up to see Mamoru-sama leaning slightly toward her so he could better reach the coals.

"So, Father tells me you love s'mores?" Hiro prompted looking back at their marshmallows slowly turning golden.

"Yes, I learned of them when I first came to America and I am afraid I have taken advantage of every opportunity to have some," he admitted with a small smile, glancing in her direction before looking over to see that Mr. Ogino had set his marshmallow on fire and was blowing it out.

Hiro looked over, amused, and her father looked mockingly defensive. "It's a lot faster than your way of doing it. Leave an old man to his s'more making," he grumbled, quickly putting it in between the chocolate and graham crackers before he held it out for them briefly to see with a nod of his head. He turned away and ate it as he walked inside the house and Hiro's surprised eyebrows raised when he closed the sliding door behind him and left them alone. She blinked a few times before looking up at Mamoru-sama who had turned at the same time to look at her with the same expression.

The expressions dissolved into giggles and chuckles as they returned their attentions to their marshmallows. A gentle wind blew through the trees and grass up to their figures by the fire causing Hiro to shiver from the contrast of the warmth of the fire and Mamoru-sama by her side and chill of the wind.

"Are you cold, Chihiro-san?" Mamoru-sama asked and she glanced at him sheepishly but shook her head.

"No, I am fine." He pursed his lips and propped his marshmallow roasting stick against the rocks that ringed their fire and started to take off the hoodie that he had changed into after dinner revealing a plain dark blue tee with his sweatpants. She suddenly realized he, too, was in pajamas but not the sophisticated ones she had caught him in a few months ago. Had it already been a few months since he had moved into the guest house?

She pretended not to blush when he gently pried her hand from her roasting stick and guided it into the sleeve of the hoodie forcing her to acquiesce to putting her other arm into the other sleeve that he held ready for her. Of course, she was instantly warmer and she couldn't look up at him as she mumbled a thank you but suddenly froze when he zipped it up for her all the way to the top.

Hiro nearly dropped her roasting stick, gasping as she moved to catch it again, her hand touching the hot metal piece of the stick. She made a small sound of pain enduring the heat until she could grasp the handle again and held the burn along the tips of the fingers of her right hand and palm in a fist to her chest.

He sighed patiently before reaching toward her. "Let me see it," he said softly. It was her turn to purse her lips and she didn't know why, but she was suddenly belligerent.

"I am fine. It's nothing."

"Hiro."

She looked at him in shock. He took the opportunity to grasp her wrist gently and pull it toward him where he carefully uncurled her fingers and looked at the angry red marks that were slowly starting to puff up along her fingertips and palm. He rested the back of her hand in his left before softly pulling his right hand over her palm and along her fingers. At first there was a slight pain but then a cooling sensation and she dropped her roasting stick but he deftly caught it in his right hand that had just left hers and propped it next to his.

The burns were gone. Healed. She could feel his eyes on her face but her gaze was glued to her hand which he still held. The silence grew louder apart from the crackle of the fire but it seemed that even the crickets stilled in anticipation.

That was when she felt the tears prick her eyes and she pulled her hand away and moved to her roasting stick, the marshmallow was sliding down. Silently, she picked it up and took it over to the graham and chocolate and she carefully constructed her s'more feeling his gaze on her back for a little while before he joined her with his marshmallow and made one as well.

They even ate in silence even though it was hard to swallow just like the confirmation of her suspicions earlier that day. Unless he wasn't the river spirit and some other apparition had come to live in her backyard. At this thought her eyes rounded slightly and she finally looked at him. He was looking at her patiently with those sea green eyes and her heart fluttered. No. This wasn't some other apparition. He almost smiled but she turned her gaze to the s'more ingredients and something prompted her to pack them away. She did so meticulously; placing them into the small cooler they kept them in and set the box under the table on the shelf that kept it off the ground before carefully straightening up.

He had moved to stand by the fire and she remembered that he had let her borrow his hoodie even though she could have easily walked into the house to grab one of her one. She inconspicuously breathed in the smell of the material and felt slightly dizzy from the fact that this was how he smelled. How Kohaku smelled.

"Kohaku…?" she murmured softly and his head titled in her direction. "I am right, aren't I?" she asked touching his arm barely as if he would disappear from sight. "Kohaku?" she prompted when he didn't speak and that was when he turned to her to reveal the face of Yubaba. The scene melted away and Hiro suddenly felt herself falling.

Slamming into reality she sat up quickly and found herself in her bedroom, the book she had been reading slipping from her chest to the floor with a loud clunk. She was breathing heavily as if she had fallen from a great height and had been saved at the last moment. The sound of the pouring rain drifted through her open window and she shivered slightly before closing it and looking around her dark room. When had she fallen asleep?

She stood up from the bed and walked over to her door and saw a piece of paper had been slipped under her door frame. Picking it up she saw her father's scrawl.

_I will be leaving earlier than you wake up so I figured I would let you know that I am proud of you for standing up for yourself. Thankfully, Mayor Plowski is a mature businessman and the misunderstanding between Cai and yourself will have no bearing on our future work. _

_Again, I am so proud, Chihiro. I hope you enjoy your first Cai-free day!_

_Oh, and you may want to avoid your mother for the day, as well—it would seem that she isn't exactly pleased with how things turned out._

_ Love,_

_ Dad_

Hiro sat down on her bed, reading her father's last words before falling back onto the comforter with a heavy sigh and her hands blocking the world from her eyes.

* * *

_Casidhe here!_

_Well? What do you think? I have the sneaking suspicion you might be a little miffed with me but hey. It's only Chapter 10 and they haven't even started her senior year yet! I couldn't give you all everything so soon. But I worked quickly and hard on this chapter because you know what? 13 reviews! THIRTEEN! Granted a couple were for other chapters, but I am not one to complain when I get reviews. With that said!  
_

_Reviews:_

_Ialiceiamagodness- thank you!_

_XXPayXtra4ShippingsXX- I am glad that you are so proud of Chihiro and so faithful in writing reviews!_

_Guest 1- thank you. I am glad you love my writing!_

_EasternWindDragon- I am quite relieved that you thought her reaction was good and of course I had to throw Mamoru-sama's reaction in there. It just wouldn't be right to keep him out of such an important moment, you know?_

_litugreen- thank you very much!_

_Carly- Three cheers for hopeless romantics, eh? I consider myself a hopeless romantic as well but I am hoping to not end up being cheesy in my writing and so try only to put the romantic stuff in where appropriate. But it is nice to know that you are not lecherous. Haha!_

_yuki100o- Yes. Yes she spoke. I figured I could appease my readers at least in that!_

_NarutoSwag99 (who wrote 4 reviews, by the way)- I am glad you are loving the story so much. And reviewing chapters that are long gone? Wonderful!_

_JamieLov3- I have been recommended?! Gah! When I read that the first time I was very close to jumping up and doing a happy dance. Seeing as this was a review for the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed the rest up to this point? That would be awesome..._

_Guest 2- I am glad you seem so excited about my updating and I will update as soon as I can. But they will come when they come and I won't be going away any time soon. _

_Followers: Ialiceiamagodness, meghan jean, Sinopaa, NarutoSwag99, SamanthaDavies, JamieLov3 (6!)_

_Favorites: Ialiceiamagodness, meghan jean, Sinopaa. NarutoSwag99, JamieLov3 (5!)_

_Thank you all so much. You are wonderful. _

_Love, Casidhe_


	11. Stranger Danger

_Dedicated to Jamielov3_

_Chapter 11_

_Stranger Danger_

Hiro finally drug herself under her covers and nestled in looking out the window at the rain that had begun to patter against the window because of the wind. She sighed softly as she remembered the details of the dream. It had all seemed so real. From the sting of the burn and the healing magic of Mamoru-sama and even the warmth of the hoodie that he had let her borrow—it had felt so real!

She lay for a while contemplating the vividness of her dream before looking over at the clock on her wall to discover that it was already 9 AM. She made an amused sound as she looked back out her window to the overcast sky. Hiro slipped from her bed and gathered her clothes before heading into the bathroom to take a hot shower. She wanted to stay longer in the shower than necessary but remembering what Mr. Ogino said about his wife, Hiro decided it would probably be best to get out of the house as soon as possible. Getting dressed quickly, she looked at herself briefly in the mirror as she brushed through her long hair. Picking up her hair tie, she walked briskly from the bathroom braiding her hair as she went and looked up to see Mrs. Ogino had just stepped from her own bedroom. Her mother noticed her and pursing her lips, looking on the verge of tears, she turned around and went back into the bedroom.

Hiro blinked rapidly unaccustomed to seeing her mother tend toward tears rather than anger. Perhaps she had spent all night fuming and now was the realization that her daughter had dashed all her hopes and dreams…? Hiro felt a little bad for her mother having placed her hopes in the likes of Cai but she didn't feel bad at all about what had transpired and she wasn't about to apologize for not falling madly in love with the scum bag.

Her brown eyes picked out the high quality trench coat her mother had purchased to go with the rest of her new wardrobe and she noted that this was one of the newest additions that she didn't mind all that much. Shrugging into it, she glanced around her room trying to decide if there was anything else she needed. Hearing a knock on her door she looked toward it curiously wondering at the fact that her mother would already want to talk to her. Grabbing a pair of heels from the closet she opened the door.

"Yes?" she asked. Confusion etched her features when she saw empty air. Shaking her head, she mumbled to herself about hearing things. Slipping on her shoes, she picked up the purple umbrella Mr. Ogino had given to her a few months back and headed out into the rain.

Drinking in the smell of a clean world, she felt her spirit lighten and she hoped it would last. It continued to pour and she wondered how long it would continue before they were hit with the last dry spell of the summer before autumn came. Hiro let her thoughts float trying to give no more thought to the dream that had occurred the night before. She knew that anything that Mamoru-sama did was simply a part of him and had nothing to do with Haku. But those green eyes… she shook her head in irritation tilting her umbrella back slightly so she could look up at the dark clouds that covered the sky.

A few rain drops kissed her cheeks when she heard a car horn honk behind her. She glanced back in a knee-jerk reaction and noting that it wasn't a car she knew, turned her gaze back to the forefront and continued walking down the streets debating on whether she should turn in to one of the coffee shops for some breakfast.

"Hey, you!" a voice sounded from her left and she responded again with looking and saw the car had slowed to a crawl beside her, the passenger side window rolled down and the driver leaning across the center console to look at her.

"Do I know you?" she asked politely but her continued pace betrayed her suspicious feelings. The driver was a boy who couldn't be much older than herself. He laughed warmly at her question before answering.

"Of course not! I just got into town and was scoping out something for breakfast," he smiled at her charmingly. His shaggy brown hair swept across his forehead as he waited for a response.

"There are a few," she said on impulse, "Gaia's Café is my favorite though," she continued before finally biting her tongue. That was where she had been planning on going but she wasn't so sure that she wanted to encourage this interaction. He was a stranger after all.

"Ah! Is that so? Then how about you hop in and we can go together?"

"No, that's alright," she snapped, blushing at her rudeness. "I mean, I wasn't planning—"

"No matter, c'mon. I promise not to eat you," he said casting another smile, his teeth white and perfectly straight his eyes flashing. "Oh wait, it this one isn't it?" he asked, looking just past her and, sure enough, she turned to look and they were at Gaia's.

She cursed in her thoughts before turning and giving a slight, habit-formed bow. "Well, I'll be going in first," she said before quickly skittering inside. She heard him call out for her to wait but the door swung closed on anything further.

"Ah Hiro! Long time no see," said the store's owner, Emma.

"Hi Emma," Hiro returned moving quickly to the counter. "I'll have the usual," she said, on edge and ready to exit as soon as she got her order. Emma laughed softly before starting on the drink.

"But really now, what have you been up to, Hiro?" Emma prodded. Most days when Hiro would come in she would sit down and have good long conversations with the owner but her gaze kept shifting to the doorway wondering how long it would take the stranger to find a parking spot suitable for his… was it a Ferrari?

"Oh, this and that. The usual summer stuff," she responded distractedly. When she didn't hear anything from the owner, who really should have been a runway model, Hiro looked back at the counter to see Emma's blue eyes locked on her as if to ascertain what was causing Hiro to be so short with words and explanations.

"What?" Hiro asked, feeling discomfited by the unblinking stare.

"Was it a boy?" Emma asked suddenly.

Hiro recoiled as if the words could touch her. "Why would you-!"

She began as she heard the tinkling of the bell that welcomed customers.

"Welcome to Gaia's Café," Emma said cheerfully, with the expression of a cat having just caught a mouse.

"Emma, the raspberry roll please," Hiro urged taking the hot cocoa in hand. She felt the eyes on her back and wanted out as soon as possible. She wasn't sure why.

"There you are!" his cheerful voice came as an arm was slung across her shoulders.

"Hey!" she exclaimed looking up at him, only a bit of her irritation bleeding across her face.

"Woah, you are even cuter up close," he said as if surprised. The irritation morphed to embarrassed confusion quicker than a wink and she stood as if frozen. "That's cute, too!" he exclaimed his eyes locking onto her drink, the straw having a little dollop of whipped cream on top—something special that Emma always did for Hiro's drinks, and her favorite part at that. With his arm still about her shoulders, the stranger bent down easily and took the first drink of her cocoa, and the dollop along with it.

Blank. That was surely what expression she wore.

"Delicious, I'll have what she's having," he said while casting Emma the bright smile.

"Wow, Hiro, you really know how to pick 'em," Emma said looking from the stranger to Hiro.

"Who would ever choose a louse like him?" Hiro asked. She didn't shout. Her voice was quiet, the barely controlled, and seething with anger kind of tone that her mother sometimes used on Mr. Ogino.

"Louse? Why I never," he said with mock affront before taking another sip of HER cocoa. She took hold of his hand that rested on her shoulders and quickly whipped it away from her back, pressed the cocoa in his hand and nipping the pastry she had asked for from Emma, let her heels click her over to the door.

"The Louse can pay the bill," she said coolly before popping her umbrella open once more and walking out the door.

Taking an angry bite of the delicious pastry, she walked briskly down the sidewalk back toward her house. The nerve of that stranger! Who in the world did he think he was?

"Hiro!" she heard him call out for her from behind and she whipped about.

"Leave me alone, Louse!" she snapped.

"Aw c'mon, it wasn't such a big deal as that. See? I even asked Emma to make you another one, whip cream straw and all," he said holding it out to her, his face that of a puppy dog…his hazel eyes trying their best to be compelling. Sure enough, he was holding two cups. She pursed her lips, on the verge of taking the cup from him when a car pulled up beside them.

Hiro looked over and felt her lower lip tremble. As if one crazy stranger wasn't enough…

"Chi-hi-ro," Cai drug out but before he could continue, Hiro threw one hand in the air as if to plead to the sky.

"Can't I just be left in peace?!" she yelled before turning on her heel and running, in her high heels, toward home, the stranger's voice falling behind her. She heard the squealing of wheels and she cast a glance over her shoulder to see that Cai had flipped a U-turn and was coming after her. Hiro squealed in alarm as he stopped the car just ahead of her and started to get out. She hastily removed her heels and as he walked toward her she chucked one then the other at his head. He swatted the first away but the other hit him in the chest and he growled.

"Hiro!" he said angrily and she bolted to the side, hopping over the low fence of an obliging yard and started to make a crazy bee-line for her parents' property.

As she ran, Cai yelling after her to stop she thought rapidly of the best way to get home and away from him and she was sure the stranger wasn't too far behind. A thought like lightning flashed into her mind and she wondered why she would think of her time in the Spirit World at a time like this but she felt a similar feeling to when she had been chased by No Face through the bathhouse.

"Haku wasn't there to protect me then, either," she thought in a suddenly depressed manner. "Haku, why haven't you come?" she cried out in her mind, a rush of wind nearly knocking her head over feet as she ran and she bumped into something solid yet soft. She looked up into the face of the man she had run into and gasped.

* * *

_Casidhe here!_

_So before I realized it two months had gone by and although, I admit, I started this chapter, I had yet to finish it. I was really pumped after receiving so many reviews but I suddenly lost the drive for about a week and then after that… life happened. I had to move to a different apartment and now I have been living the life of a working woman. _

_Just so you all know, it is all because of JamieLov3 that I have finally come back to work. I hope there isn't another such hiatus as one that last two months straight. I have to update my other two stories but then I will be back to the presses with Chapter 12. Promise. _

_Reviews:_

_Ialiceiamagodness: Thank you. I am glad you love it!_

_Guest: So it may not have ALL been a dream but… well, the last half was… or was it? Dun dun DUN!_

_XXPay4XtraShippingsXX: So… I swear it wasn't because I got tired of the story but rather a little tired of life…?_

_EasternWindDragon: Yes, it will be longer than this. Hopefully this will be a good re-kick start!_

_JamieLov3: As you can see, I have dedicated this chapter to you. Why? Because you reviewed twice—once to tell me you loved it, and the second to tell me you missed me and wondered if I still breathed. I was feeling spiteful toward a certain someone… so I didn't write the next chapter as quickly as I had planned and then it sort of got lost in my day to day life. But here I am. And this is to you!_

_Carly: Yes, nightmares of Yubaba. I figured it would be fitting. And thank you!_

_FruitySmell: I love how you refer to Mamoru as a dream boat. It makes me wonder how you all have imagined him to look. I have given colors, lengths and such but still… it makes me wonder. And yes, Cai is a piece of waste. _

_SamanthaDavies: Thank you! Sorry for the lateness of my update!_

_ kool. smiles. are. kool: I do hope you dance and cheer soon ish. Sorry for no Haku in this one. _

_NarutoSwag99: So… this review made me sad._

_Followers: LeeshyLoo and LilyWhite22_

_Favorites: SamanthaDavies, LilyWhite22 and pillowpandabear994_

_Again, thank you for your very fine support._

_CB_


	12. Let Me Wipe Thy Fevered Brow

_Chapter 12: Let Me Wipe Thy Fevered Brow_

She was looking up into the face of the stranger, his hazel eyes glimmering with an emotion she couldn't quite place. She heard Cai yell her name again, causing her gaze to rip from the face above her to look over her shoulder and see Cai red-faced and furious and it jolted her into action as she tried to run around the stranger but he held her fast, albeit gently.

"It is okay, Hiro, I won't let him get you," he said softly, her face turning up to look at him. He wasn't looking at her but over her head at the approaching Cai. She realized rather belatedly that he had gotten to her awful fast for someone who had just gotten into town… it seemed as though he knew the town like the back of his hand.

"Who are you?" she asked. He spared her a glance, a warm smile lighting his face before he returned to his cold stare that directed itself at Cai.

"Thanks for stopping her, but I can take it from here," Cai said in a rather high and mighty voice. The strange boy chuckled before speaking.

"I didn't do this for you. I am here to protect her—so to speak," he said, his dark hair becoming more saturated by the rain, Hiro's umbrella having been abandoned in her flight, along with her pastry she remembered offhandedly. His words confused her, however and she looked up at him with even more curiosity than before.

"Protect her? From what?" Cai snarled.

"From monsters and nuisances, of course," the stranger said coolly, "the name is Antoni Liam."

"Antoni Liam?" Hiro murmured softly to herself. The name sounded familiar but she couldn't place why.

It was Cai's turn to laugh. "Clearly you don't know who you are talking to. I'm Cai Plowski, the son of this town's mayor and you are keeping me from my property," he countered haughtily and Hiro bristled suddenly wanting to punch his lights out. She whipped her head about to see his spiky brown hair melting out of its customary spikes as he took a step toward her and Antoni.

Antoni guided her to stand behind him and she watched in surprise as he calmly walked toward Cai who had pulled his fist back in preparation to throw the first punch. She felt more than saw the menacing aura that emanated from Antoni and although she wondered how it would play out, she chose this as her chance to escape. The moment she spun around, she heard the first contact and the echoes of the fight followed her until she was out of earshot and just a few blocks from her property.

Hiro's head was spinning with what had just transpired in the short 3o minutes of leaving her house, the roaring of the wind and her gasping breaths making it hard to hear anything that might have been pursuing her but she continued to run flat out, becoming more aware that her pants were at least soaked up to 4 inches from the hem.

The cold was getting to her and she tripped slightly, running into the wrought iron fence that surrounded her property. She shivered violently and casting a look over her shoulder found that she had not been followed. Her face turned back toward her property and she forced herself on to the gate where she finally crossed onto her parents' land and felt the ground rushing up to meet her.

When she came to, she was considerably warmer than when she had passed out. She groaned hoarsely as she let her eyes drift open. She found herself on the couch in her family room, the fire place ablaze with a merry fire. Looking down at her body, she found that her silken shirt and slacks had been replaced by flannel pajamas and her feet had been slipped into cashmere socks. She slowly remembered what had lead to her being on the couch in pajamas from leaving the house early, to being stalked by a strange but handsome stranger who turned out to be a whipped cream happiness thief, being found by Cai, running for her life and then running all out away from Cai and Antoni.

No matter how hard she thought, however, she couldn't recall what had happened after crossing the property threshold to waking up before the fire.

"I helped your mother bring you inside after she found you at the edge of the property," Mamoru-sama said as if having read Hiro's thoughts up until that point. She looked up to see him walking in to the room with a steaming mug of what she discovered to be mint raspberry tea that he handed to her carefully, warning that is was still hot. "She then switched your clothes and had me bring you in here while she went to the store for more medicine and something that will be suitable for a sick patient to consume for dinner," he finished explaining as he sat on the edge of the couch by her feet. She nodded silently in understanding, blowing at the hot beverage before managing to take a sip that soothed her weary throat.

"Ah yes, and Mrs. Ogino wanted me to warn you that your father's business associate is joining us for dinner because your getting sick was too last minute to cancel with him." Hiro wasn't thrilled by the idea but it had happened a time or two before. She blushed rather belatedly as she took a quick peak at Mamoru-sama to see he was gazing into the fire.

"I am sorry you were put in charge of babysitting me," she apologized, more embarrassed that he always seemed to see her at her worst than the actual fact that he was there to take care of her.

He looked at her with one of those unfathomable looks of his saying, "Any time." It caused her to blush all the more as she took another drink of her tea which resulted in scalding her tongue a little, bringing tears to her eyes as she handed Mamoru-sama the drink. He was obviously trying not to laugh as he set the tea down on the coffee table and so she tried not to get angry with him, being even more embarrassed at her own clumsiness. Groaning she bent in half to drop her face into her lap and wished she could disappear.

Had she been looking, she would have seen his deep green eyes soften apologetically and perhaps even a little lovingly as he reached over and rubbed her back with his right hand, not speaking a word. She let go a sigh that rattled through her throat as she relaxed into his hand feeling more than content to just stay there for the rest of the evening…not even a minute later, the front door of the house opened and closed announcing that Mrs. Ogino had returned, Mamoru-sama taking his hand back, saying he would be back and leaving the family room.

With her head still in her lap, she turned her face slightly, her slightly fevered cheeks redder with the feelings that were increasing almost daily for the teacher that her parents had taken into their home. The memory of his hand on his back warmed her heart as she sat up slowly, her gaze thoughtful as it turned toward her hands that rested in her lap.

She sniffled and realized that she was too stuffed up to appreciate the aroma of whatever was on the menu for the rest of her family and the guests that night, for she knew that she would only be having soup that night.

She heard the ring of the doorbell and she looked up curiously, there being no clock in the family room, wondering how late it actually was. She heard the bustle of voices and she frowned wondering if her father's associate had brought his family along with him for dinner. She wasn't sure whether to feel displeased or curious and curiosity won out, especially when her mother apologized for the fact that she had caught a cold and would be in the family room for dinner. It wasn't so much the admonition of her cold that caught hold of her attention, but rather the voice the rose above her mother's asking if he could visit the sick. The voice sounded familiar and training her gaze on the door induced a squeak when none other than Antoni appeared in the doorway.

* * *

_Casidhe here! Yes, an update! Again. In one week. I hope you enjoyed it!_

_Reviews:_

_LeeshyLoo—your review astounded me, to be honest seeing as this is the first I have heard from you. I am glad that you were worried about me and have decided to stick with me, I really appreciate it. I'm also glad you found the last chapter humorous!_

_Ialiceiamagodness—thank you, as per usual!_

_XXPay4XtraShippingsXX—What do you think of the stranger now? He is definitely not Cai… for sure._

_Pillowpandabear994—him who? oO_

_EasternWindDragon—I am honored for your praise! I never knew I had it in me to be a favorite._

_WolfieTheDemon—I usually try to choose my titles with care so it is nice when someone notices it! And, as you probably read, this is an update after a 2 month hiatus… so I am glad you came across it at the right time! Enjoy!_

_NarutoSwagg99—thank you for reading and reviewing, as always._

_Angelic Toaster—I'm glad you find it fun! _

_JamieLov3—but of course, but of course! I am glad you enjoyed this chapter and throwing another character hasn't been deemed a bad choice as of yet. I really hope you guys like Antoni… I think he has the potential to be a very interesting character._

_Gueest—oh dear, I hope you have read the rest of the chapters seeing as you reviewed Chapter 2 only. It does get better, my dear._

_Followers: Angelic Toaster, WolfieTheDemon!_

_Favorites: Also Angelic Toaster and WolfieTheDemon!_

_Thanks you wonderful readers you! I am off to update my other two stories and then I will be back for the next chapter of this, Move Along into the Twilight._

_CB_


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